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)
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 viewCollections
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 LabelIn 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.
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).
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
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