One of history's most famous painters began when she was in her 70s. Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses (1860-1961) picked up paint and brush when her hands became too arthritic to hold the needles for embroidery.
She often painted scenes from her experiences of life on the farm in upstate New York - snowy sleigh rides, churning butter and trips to the county fair.
An art collector first saw her work in a drugstore window in Hoosick Falls, N.Y. in 1939; that same collector was instrumental in getting her works displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 1940, she had her first solo exhibition at the Galerie St. Etienne in New York City.
Her works were widely reproduced through publications across the country and she won national recognition before her death in 1961 at 101. She is still the subject of conversation today, a guiding light to artists of all ages across the world.
