The month of March heralds in the last bit of snow, a spring scrub-down in our homes, and in 2024, we celebrate Resurrection Day in March. So, which color do you think we’ve selected for the month of March? You guessed it—the color white. This month we also celebrate Women in History, so naturally we’ve selected an artist from history who will remind us that it’s never too late to learn a new art form.
The Psychology of the Color White:
The color white evokes a feeling of innocence, cleanliness, simplicity, and optimism. Any room in your home can be painted white due to the color’s neutrality and the airy openness it adds to rooms that would otherwise feel cramped if painted a dark color. In fact, many homes are painted white before they’re listed, to make the home seem not only more spacious, but also, to give potential buyers a clean slate to work with. Obviously, art studio spaces are most often painted white because of its ability to reflect light versus absorbing it. Pure white is the most reflective color available.
White in Art:
Technically white is not considered a color but a shade. When mixed with color or hue, the color desaturates (or lightens). On the canvas, an artist will use shades of white to create an empty space, add light, or to impress goodness and purity in the subject matter. Grandma Moses often used white in her paintings. For example, in the painting, Wash Day (1945), Much of the sheets and clothing hanging on the line are white, as well as the home in the background. She illustrates the subject of cleanliness not only with the illustrated action but by using white as the main color in the composition; by doing so, we see this lifestyle she’s illustrating as not only simplistic but morally innocent as well.
The Life of Grandma Moses:
Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses) was born September 7, 1860, on a farm in Washington County, New York. She described her earliest years as the most carefree, joyful years of her life, as she was free to roam the wild woods foraging for flowers and floating over their family pond on a raft made by her and her brother. Her mother taught her to sew and care for her younger sibling.
By the age of 12, Moses left to earn her own way by being a “hired girl” in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Whitesides. It was here she earned an education in keeping house and cooking. The elderly Whitesides treated her as if she were their own child, requiring her to learn scriptures and attend church with them. After they both died 1880, she moved out to assist another family for another seven years.
Her Family Life:
In 1887 Anna married a farmer named Thomas Solomon Moses. They settled in Staunton, Virginia, to help on a farm in desperate shape after the Civil War. After a year, they continued further south, settling on a dairy farm in the Shenandoah Valley region. Here, Anna helped the family financially by making homemade butter and potato chips to sell. She also gave birth to 10 children on this farm, five of which died in infancy. In her writing she claimed, “…I left five little graves in that beautiful Shenandoah Valley.”
The Moses family moved to New York in 1905 and started their own dairy farm. She set out teaching her children and helping with farm work until one by one her children grew up and went their own way. Her husband passed away January 15, 1927.
Her Art:
Needing something to occupy her mind and time, at the age of 67, she began creating pictures using wool thread and embroidery. Her beautiful landscapes consisted mostly of bright colored farm landscapes, illustrated through intricate stiches. Her arthritic hands made it impossible to continue embroidery, so she turned to painting, and found she held just as much promise at the age of 78 as that of a skilled artist.
Her primitive style of folk art illustrated early American life and culture, which people found intriguing for its simplicity and the story it told. She caught the attention of an avid art collector named Caldor when he saw her paintings hanging in a drug store. He purchased them all and then went to her house to meet her and purchase more. He became her biggest promotor and with time it paid off. In 1940, The New York Herald Tribune first attributed Anna with the name “Grandma Moses” in an article in which they featured her art and the incredible story of a woman who began painting as she neared 80 years old. The name stuck, from then on Anna Mary Robertson Moses became Grandma Moses.
When she began using American history for inspiration, her name became as well-known as the historical stories on her canvases. Fans poured into large department stores in New York to meet the famous Grandma Moses, while Hallmark contracted printing her winter scenes on Christmas cards (which still can be seen today). In 1949, President Harry Truman honored Grandma Moses with the Women’s National Press Club Award.
Eventually, painting became too much for her. On December 13, 1961, Grandma Moses passed away, she was 101 years old. The official cause of death was “hardening of the arteries,” but her doctor claimed, “she just wore out.” She had painted around 2,000 paintings. Historians call her unique style, “American Primitive.”
What Can We Learn from Grandma Moses?
What can we as Christian creatives learn from Grandma Moses, a woman who experienced great loss throughout her life, but kept moving forward? I believe this is what our takeaway is… she persevered. She didn’t stop living, growing, or learning in old age. She left the gravesides of her loved ones and kept living. She worked diligently in developing her skills and never used her age as a crutch. That’s why people were drawn to her.
In God’s Word:
Proverbs 6:6-11: “Go to the ant O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” (ESV)
God tells us in His Word, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)
May we all persevere and work with diligence in all God’s given us to do, even if it’s learning a new creative skill at the age of 80.
Credits:
The sources for this article: Grandma Moses by Otto Kallir;
Theverywellmind.com.
Painting by Grandma Moses titled: Wash Day and A Beautiful World
Tammy Carter Adams is the founder of The Hallelujah House. She is co-host of The Hallelujah House podcast. When she’s not creating content, Tammy enjoys painting, writing, and spending time with her husband and four children in Central Florida.
