Grandma Moses' 100 Years Of Appalachia, A Christmas Treasury

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
So iconically Americana her name barely evokes not enough deserved interest in 2015, a member reminded me that Grandma Moses has sugar maple tap roots spanning generations here in the east- worthy of delving beneath all the over-sell, over-saturation, over-commercialism done to our greatest American Folk treasure. I'll stand by that.
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She called this ' Waiting for Christmas ', painted in 1960, obviously taken from her treasury



And it's funny- as in odd. Whether she loved her husband Thomas first and the Shenandoah Valley second, tough to say. Born in New married, lived in Staunton, Virginia it was husband Thomas who insisted they move to New York. This portion is glossed over plus pretty confusing. I've read a lot of articles none of which explain why. Most articles gloss over the importance of this move- can't imagine it was anything but wrenching, a Southern woman really, farmer's wife, small community with those close, close ties uprooted in those days post-war to somewhere in the heart of what had been abolitionists territory. There can be no doubt this sweet faced woman was loved wherever she chose to make her bed. Must have been an extremely hard move.

Go into any ' country ' store, the grape vine wreaths, Yankee candles, red and white gingham fabric, ticking pillows, faux distressed shutters for sale and primitive angels- bet you can track the now-waning craze back to one woman. Why? It's a long story story, brief explanation. Having observed life, deeply cherished, for 8 decades a woman named Anna Mary Robertson Moses was moved to explain herself via paint and brush and canvas. Complex seasons based on what really were matters of life and death, cycles to do with living here in Appalachia ( We are still Appalachia in this section of Pennsylvania although her images were from Virginia and New York ) she saw as joyful patterns. She said so, on canvas. In an increasingly materialistic world filled with new words -' plastics ' , ' technology ', where farms lay fallow and children who once followed their father at the plow followed jobs to the city Moses' work shattered brittle, new, veneers. We were back- or longing to be, and could be given 5 bucks and a print.

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Born in 1860, Anna was a child of the Civil War- how could she not be?

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Wish I knew which of the children she is posing with here.

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There are other photos of her, I like this because she's smiling and looks so pretty! LOVE to have met her.

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You know this must have been a posed shot, who cares? Anna with a paint brush and canvas? SO lucky to see this.


In this instance Wikipedia does a nice presentation. It's not terrific but much, much better than a lot of them.
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From early in her marriage, so this would have been in Staunton, Virginia with her husband in in-laws

Moses' other lesson took root and still does- seeing her work, like a farmer tenderly grafting a careful shoot in his orchard, Anna Mary was 80, eighty years old, 80 when beginning her work documenting her Appalachia- our Appalachia. A child of war- literally, born into the chaos of 1860, Anna passed through her years of girlhood, marriage, earning her livelihood, bearing children, burying some- passing the seasons she later describes for us. Not content with old age and turning her memories over one by one like accumulated gold coins Grandma Moses began handing them out- her greatest treasure.

Thought I'd hand some of her gold coins around for Christmas- Anna Mary Robertson Moses' Christmas coins. There are more, will go collect them as she did.

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" A Tramp On Christmas Day "

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" Christmas At Home "

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" We Love To Skate "

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" Hoosick Falls "
 
I had always thought of her simply as a New Yorker. She has an aesthetic that I associate with my state's North Country. I did not realize that she lived in Virginia for two decades. Thanks for enlightening me.
 
I had always thought of her simply as a New Yorker. She has an aesthetic that I associate with my state's North Country. I did not realize that she lived in Virginia for two decades. Thanks for enlightening me.

Yes, it hit me as a huge surprise too! Mom's family, her mother's side are from the Seneca area- heavily so. New Amsterdam settlements, a lot up that way. Finding her a New Yorker was terrific! Made me go back to inspect some of her work, reading those young mother years in Virginia. On the other hand I keep having my geography stretched, too. ' Appalachia ' had not been in my vocabulary as reaching into New York, pretty cool.

Her ' Tramp on Christmas Day ' painting, wish we knew more. Guess that doesn't happen in 2015. It did when I was a child, especially in a parsonage although it did not have to be Christmas. Used to be part of America- glad she documented it. Sometimes the person brought his whole family.
 
You know, I'd really like to pick out as many Christmas details in these paintings as possible. Bet there are some we've spoken of during the war already somewhere although could not say which from the top of my head.

The two kitchens pictured are from different homes. Both feature elderly women, both have women in long dresses- fashions where you know those wearing them spanned many Christmases.

In looking at the table there's pastry and a rolling pin, various bags with food-stuffs spilling free, both painting have 2 trees, is that ' something '? In one, a woman holds a boot, another holds a small basket, and what is by the children's bed in the first painting?

Anyway, may get no interest in this- I'm just hugely distractible. The clues left to us by Anna, gazing inside a world where little girls play with kittens and boys crack nuts on bench instead of tweeting and posting seems so, so far away. Far from being an idealized version this was Anna's world.
 
This is a neat thread. It's amazing how she was discovered almost by accident and became a noted celebrity in her own life. I can't remember clearly and I'm not sure it's even accurate, but it seems I've read that Cole Porter (while on his farm) was a fairly close neighbor.
 
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