When I was a teenager taking oil painting lessons, my mother showed me a magazine article about a woman painter. Her technique was child like but her colors were lively and her subject matter – nature, animals, farmlands, ordinary people – appealing. So when I learned that this woman did not start to paint until she was seventy-six, I was both awed and inspired.
Two months ago, I looked again at Grandma Moses’ paintings when in Vermont to give readings of my recent novel. Seeing them in the Bennington Museum, I felt I’d run into a long-missed friend. Having, in the intervening years, been fortunate to have seen masterpieces in famous museums, I no longer regarded her as a great artist. But that doesn’t matter. Her work gives pleasure to many and her example continues to inspire.
Grandma Moses' age did not stop her, nor her lack of formal training, nor did the condescension of the critics. For me, so many years after her death and after that day my mother showed me the article, Moses’ paintings still spoke to me, I still felt I could step into her scenes and have tea with the villagers, play with the animals, and watch the sunset in the barnyard.
Grandma Moses was born in 1860 and lived to 101. During her three decades of creative life, she left us with three thousand paintings. Admired by millions, she was the recipient of many honors. These included the Women’s National Press Club Award bestowed by President Harry Truman at a special ceremony and her painting being made into a postage stamp. One of her paintings, Sugaring Off sold for $1.2 million many years after her death.
Although Grandma Moses never learned how to paint with perspective, she had her own perspective on life. “I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it. I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."
She also said, “Painting's not important. The important thing is keeping busy.”
Talk about a celebration of life by a Spirited Woman!
- Mingmei Yip, http://www.mingmeiyip.com
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