These two paintings by the prolific artist known colloquially as Grandma Moses remind me of, and embody the feelings that I had of a trip to Old Rag mountain, near Sperryville, Virginia. The naive quality that immediately identifies the work as being by Grandma Moses evokes for me the simple, rural, and charming character of the area around Sperryville, with it's twisting farm roads, neatly tended farms, and ever present view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a beautiful day and the clear late-afternoon sunlight amplified the tonalities of the greens, blues, and brown colors of the location. It seems that experience informs the appreciation of "naive" art.

Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses), 1860-1961
She married Thomas Salmon Moses in 1887 and had 10 children. She painted her first painting in 1920; and began painting in earnest in 1927 after the death of her husband. Her pictures, which she exhibited at local fairs, depicted country scenes filled with people and executed in a naive manner. At exhibition of her work in a drugstore window in 1939 caught the attention of Louis J. Caldor, who introdued her work to Dr. Otto Kallir, director of Galeries St. Etienne in New York City. She executed about 1,600 pictures. The above painting, King Church, is listed as no. 1541 in the artist's inventory book. It was executed in August, 1952. The painting below, The Sycamore Farm, is recorded as no. 782 in the inventory book and was painted in July, 1944.