A major donation of paintings by Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses to the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington, D.C. was announced by Jane Kallir, Co-Director of The Galerie St. Etienne. Over the course of the next seven years, 10 masterworks will be donated by Kallir and her family in memory of Otto Kallir.The gift from the Kallir family begins with three paintings — “Out for Christmas Trees,” 1946; “Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City,” 1946; and “Turkeys,” 1958, the first two of which are currently on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Seven remaining works are in the process of being selected. All 10 will be among the highlights of a traveling “Grandma” Moses exhibition, set to begin at SAAM in the fall of 2023 with Jane Kallir is a consultant for the exhibition.“Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City” depicts the artist herself amid the bustle of a working farm, about to embark on a rare trip to New York City to see her own paintings on view at Galerie St. Etienne. The gallery was established in 1939 by Kallir’s grandfather Otto Kallir, an émigré from Vienna, who specialized in modern Austrian masters such as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele.Moses’s debut exhibition, which she did not attend, had an unassuming title: “What a Farmwife Painted,” and presented 34 relatively small paintings. Although the show had modest success, Otto Kallir signed Moses to a contract as her exclusive representative. A traveling exhibition was launched over the next two decades that brought Moses’ work to more than 30 states, 10 European nations, and even Moscow during the Cold War. Moses became arguably the most famous American artist of the era, and certainly the most successful female painter. She appeared on the covers of Time and Life. Her work was the first contemporary American acquisition by the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1950. Founder Louise Blouin: http://www.blouinartinfo.com/artists/louise-blouin--2953510
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