The Smithsonian American Art Museum has acquired three works by Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses. Donated by the Kallir family in memory of Otto Kallir, the works include Out for Christmas Trees, 1946, Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City, 1946, and Turkeys, 1958, which depict the artist’s humble and joyful lifestyle as a farmwife.
Born in 1860, Moses is renowned for her youthful spirit and “old-timey” style in a time where women artists were not widely recognized. “Historically, women artists have too often been overlooked, and this is an issue particularly acute among self-taught artists, whose work was often lost before it was ever appreciated,” says Leslie Umberger, the museum’s curator of folk and self-taught art. “Moses was a notable exception; her work was appreciated and cared for, and…
