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She was 80 years old in 1940 when she stepped tentatively into the limelight with her first solo exhibition. Dubbed “Grandma Moses” by the press, Anna Mary Robertson (1860–1961) became a media sensation, achieving a superstar celebrity that raised questions in her time and remains intriguing today. Moses wielded creativity, hope, and unity as tools for shaping a life that she would later reflect on as “a good day’s work.”
As a multidimensional force in American art, she holds a distinctive place in the postwar cultural imagination for her beloved painted recollections of rural life. Her paintings, embroideries, ephemera, and photographic reproductions reveal how she defied social norms and became a central figure in the story of American art.
Moses met her unexpected fame with unassuming warmth, humor, and a continued devotion to work. Accounts of her describe a modest, approachable woman who charmed people she met and treated the attention around her with good humor rather than self-importance. That humility was rooted in a life shaped by hard work and care for others—a perspective captured in her own phrase, “a good day’s work.” (Smithsonian American Art Museum; New York Times, 1949; Princeton University Press)
“What moves me most is that the kindness and humility associated with Moses weren’t a performance for the spotlight; they seem to have grown from a life spent working, caring for others, and finding beauty in ordinary days. I can’t help feeling a tenderness for the woman behind the fame: after so many years of labor, she found a way to make the world look at her—and still seemed to meet that attention without losing her warmth. Her story reminds me that it is never too late to make something beautiful, and that a life’s quietest gifts may be the ones that endure.”
The works of Grandma Moses have been widely exhibited in major museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Renwick Gallery, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Bennington Museum. Currently on view at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, this exhibition of more than 80 works sheds new light on a beloved body of work, introduces Moses to younger generations, and examines her legacy in the context of America today.
By Ben Rayman