The Old Covered Bridge | |
---|---|
Artist | Grandma Moses |
Year | c. 1941 |
Medium | Oil paint, flecks of mica, composition board |
Dimensions | 21.91 cm (8.63 in) × 26.99 cm (10.63 in) |
Location | Wadsworth Atheneum |
Owner | Jane Perry Clark Carey |
Accession No. | 1957.609 |
The Old Covered Bridge is a circa 1941 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 81 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum since 1957. [1]
It shows the artist's impression of a horse-drawn sleigh coming through a covered bridge, with the flecks of mica spread on the snow to heighten the whiteness of the winter landscape. This painting is a good example of the early small format winter landscapes that the artist sold along with her preserves at local fairs in the period before she became famous and began producing larger pictures. Though this painting was made too early to be included in her record book, page 18 in that book representing sales for the year 1943 showed that she priced her paintings by size: "a picture measuring 6 1/4 by 8 inches is listed as having been sold for $2; one measuring 11 1/2 by 13 3/4 inches brought $5; and one 23 by 26 3/4 inches brought $15." [2]
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.
Otto Kallir was an Austrian-American art historian, author, publisher, and gallerist. He was awarded the Silbernes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien in 1968.
July Fourth is a 1951 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 91 and signed "Moses". It is now in the White House, whose collections it entered in 1952.
The Old Oaken Bucket, The Last is a 1947 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 86 and signed "Moses". It was sold at Sotheby's in 2006 for US$598,400.
Country Fair is a 1950 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 89 and signed "Moses". It was sold at Sotheby's in 2009 for US$1,082,500.
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.
A Fire in the Woods is a 1947 oil painting by the American outsider painter Grandma Moses, produced at age 87 and signed "Moses". It has been in the collection of the National Gallery of Art since 1999.
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.
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.
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.
The Grandma Moses record book is a small book given in 1941 to Grandma Moses by her brother Fred E. Robertson for keeping track of the titles of paintings she made. According to Otto Kallir in 1975, "The book is bound in black boards; it measures 7 1/2 by 10 inches and bears the word "Record" in gold lettering on the cover. The pages are numbered from 1 to 152."
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.