Painting:The Old Hoosick Bridge

Anna Mary Robertson ("Grandma") Moses captured with paint her memories of a long rural life. She first took up a paintbrush in 1937 at the age of 77. Several years later, America discovered her paintings and immediately fell in love with this elderly artist from Upstate New York. Why? Certainly Grandma Moses' personal charm had much to do with it. A spunky, earthy woman, she charmed America with her country ways, her homespun aphorisms, and her pride in her canned jams and preserves. Her paintings were true to their creator. They depicted scenes Grandma Moses remembered - some from her childhood, others from her years as a farmwife. Covered bridges, for example, were "land marks in days gone by." The Old Hoosick Bridge captured one particular structure that, in her words, "is no more." Perhaps in that sentiment lies the appeal of Grandma Moses' paintings, for she seems to capture a style of life that Americans like to believe once was, but sadly "is no more."