Here's some history about Grandma Moses you may, or may not know. 

Today we celebrate the birth of Grandma Moses, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, born September 7, 1860, in Greenwich NY, best known as an 'American Folk Artist.' But did you know her first love was embroidery? When her arthritis got so bad that she couldn't stitch anymore, her sister suggested that painting might be easier for her, and at the age of 78, that's just what she did.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses' artwork was discovered by the amateur art collector, Louis J. Caldor, in a drugstore window in Hoosick Falls, New York. Caldor arranged for an art show at the famed Museum of Modern Art, which was a hit. Her success from that show made her known world wide as Mrs. Moses or “Grandma Moses.”

She lived to 101 years old, and in celebrating her longevity, LIFE Magazine featured her on the cover in 1960. Fans loved her rural holiday scenes from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mothers Day but she was more proud of her homemade jelly.

The National Day Calendar says Grandma Moses exhibitions were so popular during the 1950s that the turnout broke records all over the world. "Her images of America’s rural past were transferred to curtains, dresses, cookie jars, and dinnerware, and used to pitch cigarettes, cameras, lipstick and instant coffee. In 2006 her painting 'Sugaring Off' sold for $1.2 million. Her Fourth of July creation was presented to the White House, and it still hangs there today."

New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, proclaimed September 7 as Grandma Moses Day in 1960 in honor of Grandma Moses’s 100th birthday.

Share this little piece of NY History by using Use #GrandmaMosesDay.
[Information from National Day Calendar]


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