subj
Wholesome story, as the holidays near
She was 78, too poor for Christmas gifts, so she painted pictures instead.
Art critics rejected her as "amateur."
She became a millionaire anyway.
Eagle Bridge, New York, 1938. Anna Mary Robertson Moses was 78 years old and broke.
Seventy-eight years of hard labor. Raising ten children, Running a farm.
No art. No hobbies. No time for "creativity." Just survival.
Then Christmas came.
Anna wanted to give her children and grandchildren presents.
So she painted them pictures.
Because she was broke and needed something to give.
She used old boards and scraps of canvas. Cheap house paints.
She painted scenes she remembered: farms in winter, children sledding, sugaring-off parties, country fairs. Simple, colorful, naive paintings.
Her daughter suggested she try selling them at the local drugstore in Hoosick Falls.
The pharmacist agreed. He hung a few paintings in the window, priced between $3 and $5.
They sat there for months. Nobody bought them.
October 1938. A man walked past Thomas's Drug Store.
His name was Louis Caldor. He was an art collector from New York City.
He saw the paintings in the drugstore window and stopped.
They were... strange. Primitive. But there was something about them—a sincerity, a warmth, an authenticity that trained artists often lost.
Caldor bought every painting in the store.
Caldor drove back to New York City with a trunk full of paintings by an unknown 78-year-old farmwife.
For the next year, Caldor tried to get galleries interested.
They all said no.
"Too primitive." "Not real art."
The New York art world in 1939 was dominated by Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, European modernism.
But Caldor didn't give up.
In October 1939, he convinced the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to include three of Anna's paintings in a group exhibition called "Contemporary Unknown American Painters."
Critics ignored Anna's work. But the public loved them.
.
November 1940. A breakthrough.
A prestigious New York gallery—Galerie St. Etienne—agreed to give Anna a solo exhibition. Her first.
The owner, Otto Kallir, titled the show: "What a Farm Wife Painted."
Anna Mary Moses became "Grandma Moses"—a marketing name that emphasized her age, her authenticity.
The exhibition was a sensation.
Not with art critics—But with regular people. Americans exhausted by the Depression and worried about World War II found comfort in Grandma Moses's paintings. They were happy. Nostalgic for a simpler America.
Paintings sold out. Newspapers wrote features. She was 80 years old.
For the next 21 years, she produced over 1,600 paintings between ages 78 and 101. Hundreds sold for thousands of dollars each.
She appeared on the cover of Time magazine (1953). She met President Harry Truman at the White House.
She became one of the most famous artists in America.
Art critics rejected her as "amateur."
She became a millionaire anyway.
Eagle Bridge, New York, 1938. Anna Mary Robertson Moses was 78 years old and broke.
Seventy-eight years of hard labor. Raising ten children, Running a farm.
No art. No hobbies. No time for "creativity." Just survival.
Then Christmas came.
Anna wanted to give her children and grandchildren presents.
So she painted them pictures.
Because she was broke and needed something to give.
She used old boards and scraps of canvas. Cheap house paints.
She painted scenes she remembered: farms in winter, children sledding, sugaring-off parties, country fairs. Simple, colorful, naive paintings.
Her daughter suggested she try selling them at the local drugstore in Hoosick Falls.
The pharmacist agreed. He hung a few paintings in the window, priced between $3 and $5.
They sat there for months. Nobody bought them.
October 1938. A man walked past Thomas's Drug Store.
His name was Louis Caldor. He was an art collector from New York City.
He saw the paintings in the drugstore window and stopped.
They were... strange. Primitive. But there was something about them—a sincerity, a warmth, an authenticity that trained artists often lost.
Caldor bought every painting in the store.
Caldor drove back to New York City with a trunk full of paintings by an unknown 78-year-old farmwife.
For the next year, Caldor tried to get galleries interested.
They all said no.
"Too primitive." "Not real art."
The New York art world in 1939 was dominated by Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, European modernism.
But Caldor didn't give up.
In October 1939, he convinced the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to include three of Anna's paintings in a group exhibition called "Contemporary Unknown American Painters."
Critics ignored Anna's work. But the public loved them.
.
November 1940. A breakthrough.
A prestigious New York gallery—Galerie St. Etienne—agreed to give Anna a solo exhibition. Her first.
The owner, Otto Kallir, titled the show: "What a Farm Wife Painted."
Anna Mary Moses became "Grandma Moses"—a marketing name that emphasized her age, her authenticity.
The exhibition was a sensation.
Not with art critics—But with regular people. Americans exhausted by the Depression and worried about World War II found comfort in Grandma Moses's paintings. They were happy. Nostalgic for a simpler America.
Paintings sold out. Newspapers wrote features. She was 80 years old.
For the next 21 years, she produced over 1,600 paintings between ages 78 and 101. Hundreds sold for thousands of dollars each.
She appeared on the cover of Time magazine (1953). She met President Harry Truman at the White House.
She became one of the most famous artists in America.
subj
Curse of the Magazine Cover!
Nokia was worth more than Nvidia, Apple, and Amazon combined when this magazine was printed in November 2007.
Last week, Nvidia invested $1 billion in Nokia for a 2.9% stake.
Nvidia became the first company ever to surpass a €5 trillion market cap.
Change is the only constant.
Last week, Nvidia invested $1 billion in Nokia for a 2.9% stake.
Nvidia became the first company ever to surpass a €5 trillion market cap.
Change is the only constant.
subj
was the coolest graphics
but everyone knows you can't get by on looks alone. gotta be form AND function.
express, not stress