American artist best remembered as “Grandma Moses.” Robertson began her career as a primitive artist at the age of 78. She published her autobiography, “My Life’s History” in 1952 when she was 92.
Anna grew up, the eldest of ten kids, on her parents’ flax farm and at age 12 went to work as a hired girl. As a young girl she longed to paint but the circumstances of her environment were not supportive. At 27, she married Thomas Salmon Moses and over the years gave birth to ten kids; five of whom survived. She helped her husband with their farm. Her art was expressed through the practical form of home quilts and embroidery and she made “yarn paintings,” a type of embroidery using thick, layered yarn. When her fingers became too stiff to use a needle, she began to paint scenes of country life on panels of masonite, using old house paints from the barn, never having had a lesson. Her style was simple and original, rural scenes in gay colors that portrayed the American heritage.
In 1938, she was showing her paintings in the local drugstore; the following year three were selected for inclusion in “Contemporary Unknown Painters,” a show in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. This was followed by a solo show at a New York Gallery.
Her paintings are now noted works of art and sell for large amounts of money.
Robertson died at 101, 12/13/1961, Hoosick Falls, NY.
Link to Wikipedia biography