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The Old Checkered House, 1853

Artist Grandma (Anna Mary Robertson) Moses (American, 1860 - 1961)
Date1945-1946
MediumOpaque watercolor on hardboard
DimensionsUnframed: 14 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches (35.88 x 53.66 cm)
Framed: 21 11/16 x 28 9/16 inches (55.09 x 72.55 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. Joyce Hall
Object number52-14
SignedSigned lower center: moses.
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionRed-and-white-checkered house, middleground, with four tall pine trees in front of it. Red stables and barns to right of house. Foreground: grass, trees, rail fence. Blue-uniformed soldiers standing and mounted, between fence and house; also horse-drawn carriages and civilian figures. Bright green trees and hills in background.Gallery Label
In 1932 at the age of 72, the self-taught Grandma Moses began to paint from her home in Hoosick Falls, New York.  The checkered house represented here was a well-known landmark in nearby Cambridge, New York.  It was known as an inn that had served as a general's headquarters during the Revolutionary War.  Moses worked from memory and her imagination to create this painting, however, as the checkered house was destroyed by fire in 1907.
Published References
Possibly Recent Work by America’s Beloved Grandma Moses (Los
Angeles: James Vigeveno Galleries, 1946), unpaginated (as The
Checkered House); Ten Years: Grandma Moses, exh. cat. (New
York: Galerie St. Etienne, 1948), 10, 13 (as The Old Checkered
House in 1853 and The Old Checkard House, 1853); Grandma
Moses: Twenty-five Masterpieces of Primitive Art, exh. cat. (New
York: Galerie St. Etienne, 1951), 9, 29 (as The Old Checkered
House and The Old Checkered House in 1853); “Modern Art
Group on Exhibit,” Wichita (Kans.) Beacon, 22 April 1956, 12C;
“Museum Features Exhibit of American Art,” Wichita (Kans.)
Beacon, 29 April 1956, 4B; “Two Art Exhibits Currently Offered
at Art Museum,” Wichita (Kans.) Eagle, 29 April 1956, 4E; NAMA
1959, 257 (as The Old Checkered House in 1853); Two Hundred
Years of American Painting, exh. cat. (Peoria, Ill.: Lakeview Center
for the Arts and Sciences, 1965), unpaginated (as The Old Checkered House in 1853); NAMA 1973, 253 (as The Old Checkered
House in 1853); Otto Kallir, Grandma Moses (New York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1973), no. 571 (as The Old Checkered House in 1853).
Copyright© 1973 (renewed 2001) Grandma Moses Properties Co., New York
Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


Pontr'allt Goch
Moses Griffith
n.d.
2009.20.2
Art Student
Moses Soyer
ca. 1969-1970
F80-11
EM I
Ed Moses
1997
2011.22.6
EM 2
Ed Moses
1997
2011.22.7
Ballerina
Moses Soyer
n.d.
F83-30/18
Tinsmith
Moses of Trenton
ca. 1855
2005.37.441
Designs of Modern Costume, Etc.
Henry Moses
n.d.
R70-11/8
Girl in Repose
Moses Soyer
ca. 1958-1960
F91-70
Women Arranging Hair
Moses Soyer
1935
F86-37
My Doll and I Start on a Trip
Mary Bruce Sharon
ca. 1949-1953
53-53
Tuckel's Farm
Douglas L. Osa
2004
2004.3
Street in Sannois
Maurice Utrillo
ca. 1912-1913
F62-46