Grandma Moses Lampshade

The latest Folly&Glee lampshade incorporates a patchwork piece of vintage barkcloth from the US featuring the painting a "Childhood Home" by Grandma Moses.

I don't think her work is particularly well known in Europe but from a quick browse of the web she was a superstar in the US and now highly collectable. There is something really  comfortable about her work - you look at the paintings and feel at home. Our modern competitive world is so full of neurotic insecurities that these simple lighhearted scenes of folk going about their every day tasks is affirmative and uplifting. They celebrate the seasons, community and the rewards of hard work on the land....maple syrup, apple butter, fresh berries ! 

Grandma Moses  took up painting aged 76 because arthritis had crippled her hands so that she could no longer embroider. She could not hold a needle, but she could hold a brush, and she had been too busy all her life to bear the thought of being idle.

In her autobiography, "My Life's History" published in 1951 by Harper & Brothers" Grandma Moses expressed her basic philosophy:

"I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it. I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."

Calamaty Kim , who creates THE most amazing vintage aprons fit for tea with Alice in Wonderland or with Jane Austen,  blogged a while back about her visit to Grandma Moses exhibition and included the above photo. See here for more.