Huntsville, Ala – On November 15 the artwork of legendary self-taught painter Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses (American, 1860-1961) will return to the Huntsville Museum of Art (HMA) for the holiday season. HMA has organized a one-gallery exhibition of 31 original paintings by Moses. The works are being borrowed from institutional collections nationwide and from the Galerie St. Etienne in New York City. Grandma Moses: Visions of America will run through March 1, 2015.

“Grandma Moses captured the hearts of America with her depictions of a nostalgic American life of snow covered bridges with ice skaters, hillside fall harvests and maple sugaring,” HMA Executive Director Christopher J. Madkour said. “We look forward to sharing her cozy and contemplative scenes with the city of Huntsville this holiday season.”

One of the most popular artists in the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s, Grandma Moses is known as a “folk” or “naïve” artist; she never received formal training in art. She was also the first and most well-known “memory” painter, who often used memory to give life to her landscape paintings.

Moses also adapted scenes from greeting cards, magazines and prints such as Currier and Ives. A farmer and homemaker from upstate New York, Moses first came to public attention in 1940, at the age of 80, as part of a general burst of appreciation for self-taught art. She went on to be featured on the covers of TIME and LIFE magazines, in the then-infant medium of television, in film, in best-selling books, and on millions of greeting cards. When she died in 1961, at the age of 101, she had been a regular news feature for more than two decades and had completed more than 1,600 works of art.

The Women’s Guild of the Huntsville Museum of Art is hosting a Members’ Reception Sunday, November 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. Museum docents will be on hand, and guests will enjoy mulled cider and seasonal fare. Exhibition-related merchandise will be for sale in the Museum Store. This event is FREE for Museum members and included in the general admission price for non-members.

Grandma Moses: Visions of America is organized by the Huntsville Museum of Art in cooperation with Galerie St. Etienne, New York.

Major corporate support was provided by iBERIABANK. Additional support was provided by Alabama Media Group/al.com/The Huntsville Times, An Anonymous Grandma, Pat and Gene Sapp, Jean Wessel Templeton, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, The Daniel Foundation, Betty Schonrock, and Dr. Ruth A. Yates.

HMA’s NEW hours are: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed to the public on Mondays and some major holidays. Admission is $10 for adult, non-members; $8 for military, students (age 12 and up), teachers, and seniors (60+) with a valid ID; $5 for children age 6−11; and $7 per person for groups of 10 or more. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted FREE. For more information, visit www.hsvmuseum.org or call 256-535-4350.

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