During the 1940s and 1950s, the most unlikely figure to emerge in the American art scene was Anna Mary Robertson Moses. The widow of a farmer in upstate New York, she began painting at the age of 78 because arthritis made it difficult for her to pursue needlework. Going by the moniker of Grandma Moses and coming to the medium without formal training, she created an extraordinary output of lively and invigorating paintings that recalled her rural world in the second half of the 19th century. Although her work was identified by the vaguely condescending category of folk art, her invigorating use of color and the surprising complexity of her subject matter captivated Americans \u2013 even Presidents Truman and Eisenhower celebrated her artistic achievements.
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This remarkable woman was the subject of Jerome Hill\u2019s documentary short \u201cGrandma Moses,\u201d which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject Two-Reeler. No less a figure than the Pulitzer Prize-honored poet Archibald Macleish wrote and narrated the film.<\/p>\n
While it is challenging to encapsulate a life into a two-reel film, \u201cGrandma Moses\u201d falls strangely short of its noble goals. For starters, we rarely hear the artist\u2019s voice. Outside of a brief segment where she shares photographs of her family with a group of children \u2013 I assume they are her great-grandchildren, though it is not clear \u2013 the only voice heard in the film is Macleish pontificating about \u201cthe old lady as artist, the artist as American.\u201d The film doesn\u2019t show her creating her paintings outside of very brief views of Grandma Moses at a table in her bedroom working.<\/p>\n
Even worse, none of her paintings are identified by name. The second half of the film has the camera panning back and forth across her canvases, magnifying the human and animal figures and the farm features that turn up in paintings \u2013 Macleish claims they are \u201cpainted with a curious charm\u201d when, in reality, they represent a distinctive brand of genius.<\/p>\n
Perhaps someday a proper feature-length documentary on Grandma Moses can be produced. Until then, this short work can be seen via Vimeo.<\/p>\n