Sugaring Off (Grandma Moses, 442)

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Sugaring Off
Artist Grandma Moses
Year1943
Catalogue Otto Kallir, Grandma Moses, 1973, cat nr. 276; Grandma Moses record book nr. 442
Medium Oil paint, composition board
Dimensions23 in (58 cm) × 27 in (69 cm)
Location Bennington Museum (2020); High Museum of Art (2021); Brandywine Museum of Art (2022)
Collection Galerie St. Etienne   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
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Sugaring Off is a 1943 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 83 and signed "Moses". It is in the collection of the Galerie St. Etienne. [1] [2]

It shows the artist's impression of maple sugaring traditions, with a cauldron of sap boiling on an open fire in the middle. On the left a woman pours the maple wax into fresh snow for children who are watching. On the right buckets of sap are poured into a large barrel for the next load to boil, while behind that a man with an ox-sled pulls logs presumably to feed the fire. The painting is notable for being the first full color lithograph of a Grandma Moses painting that could be ordered for framing. It was on loan to the Bennington Museum during the 2020 pandemic where a video was published online to museum members at home unable to come in person. [3]

In 1946, this painting was the first of forty selected for her to tell her story in her own words in the book Grandma Moses American Primitive : "In the maple orchards long ago, after the maple sap had been evaporated till it would spin a hair, then a call was sent out to all the young people to come to the waxin', they would pour the thick syrup on dishes of snow for each to eat, they would eat their fill and go home to dream sweet dreams,..." [4]

The next year in 1947, this painting was also selected to become a Christmas card that later became a bestseller for Hallmark Cards. [5] The card was a folded rectangle with the painting on the front, and on the back in small lettering, the text "This reproduction of "Sugaring Off" is from an original painting by Grandma Moses, New England farm wife, who began painting at the age of 76 and is recognized as one of the country's outstanding contemporary artists." [5]

See also

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Anna Mary Robertson Moses, or Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. Moses gained popularity during the 1950s, having been featured on a cover of Time Magazine in 1953. She was a subject of numerous television programs and of a 1950 Oscar-nominated biographical documentary. Her autobiography, titled My Life's History, was published in 1952. She was also awarded two honorary doctoral degrees.

Jane Kallir is an American art dealer, curator and author. She is co-director of the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, which specializes in Austrian and German Expressionism as well as self-taught and “outsider” art. In 2020, the gallery ceased commercial operations and became an art advisory. Its archives and library were transferred to the Kallir Research Institute, a foundation established in 2017. Kallir serves as President of the KRI. She has curated exhibitions for many American and international museums and is the author of the catalogue raisonné of Egon Schiele’s work in all mediums.

Galerie St. Etienne is a New York art gallery specializing in Austrian and German Expressionism, established in Vienna in 1939 by Otto Kallir. In 1923, Kallir founded the Neue Galerie in Vienna. Forced to leave Austria after the 1938 Nazi invasion, Kallir established his gallery in Paris as the Galerie St. Etienne, named after the Neue Galerie's location near Vienna's Cathedral of St. Stephen. In 1939, Kallir and his family left France for the United States, moving the Galerie St. Etienne to New York City. The gallery still exists, run by Otto Kallir's granddaughter Jane at 24 West 57th Street.


The Departure is a 1951 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 91 and signed "Moses". It is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, whose collections it entered in 2009.

Sugaring Off is a 1943 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 83 and signed "Moses". It sold by Christie's in 2006 for US$1,360,000.

<i>Checkered House</i> (Grandma Moses) 1943 painting by Grandma Moses

Checkered House is a 1943 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 83 and signed "Moses". It was sold at Sotheby's in 2016.

Thanksgiving Turkey is a 1943 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 83 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1950.

Hoosick Falls in Winter is a 1944 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 84 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of The Phillips Collection since 1949.

Wash Day is a 1945 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 85 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum since 1946.

Wagon Repair Shop is a 1960 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 100 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Bennington Museum since 2003.

Bennington is a 1953 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 93 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Bennington Museum since 1986.

The Battle of Bennington is a 1953 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 93 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Bennington Museum since 2014.

Black Horses, or Lower Cambridge Valley is a 1942 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 82 and signed "Moses". It was in the collection of Otto Kallir in 1975.

<i>Great Fire (The Burning of Troy in 1862)</i> 1959 painting by Grandma Moses

Great Fire is a 1959 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 99 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Bennington Museum since 2024.

White Christmas is a 1954 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 94 and signed "Moses". It was in the collection of Irving Berlin.

Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City is a 1946 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 86 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum since 2016.

What a Farmwife Painted was the first solo exhibition of works by Grandma Moses at the Galerie St. Etienne in October 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grandma Moses American Primitive</span> 1946 art catalog by Grandma Moses and Otto Kallir

Grandma Moses American Primitive was the first popular catalog of works by Grandma Moses by Otto Kallir, published in 1946.

The McDonnell Farm is a 1943 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 83 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of The Phillips Collection since 1944.

The Old Checkered House, 1853 is a 1946 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 86 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since 1952.

References

  1. ↑ This painting was on loan again to the High Museum of Art as part of the Gatecrashers exhibition in 2021, Galerie St. Etienne
  2. ↑ This painting was on loan with Gatecrashers also to the Brandywine Museum of Art in 2022
  3. ↑ A look at one of our favorite Grandma Moses paintings!, in-depth discussion of this painting while at the Bennington Museum, April 13, 2020
  4. ↑ Sugaring Off, Grandma Moses with Otto Kallir, Grandma Moses, American primitive - forty paintings with comments by Grandma Moses, together with her life's history, 1946
  5. 1 2 Example of a Hallmark card with this image, stating Greetings and Best Wishes of the Season, sold on eBay
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