Grandma Moses - Personality Traits - Assignment Example

Research Paper on Grandma Moses The research paper on Grandma Moses will provide a criticalanalysis of the personality traits of the Anna Mary Robertson, who is known as Grandma Moses. Herein, it should be noted that Grandma Moses is a famous and well-known personality who has been discussed by various authors in their literature books. On the basis of the literature, this research paper will provide the personality traits of Grandma Moses. It can be said that Grandma Moses’s personality is artistic, determinant, and brave, and she possessed excellent leadership qualities. She is known as a symbol of the star and a self-taught lady. She is a great inspiration to youth and artistic people. Personality Traits Artistic The most famous and prominent trait of Grandma Moses was her artistic nature. She was renowned as American folk artist. It has been noticed from the literature on Grandma Moses that she was a great artist since her childhood. She was a legendary for her artwork. At one place, the author Dacquino discussed Grandma Moses artwork in detail. According to Dacquino, she had this skill since her childhood (Dacquino). When she was a twelve-year-old little girl, she started to paint the happy scenes of her life related to her childhood memories. She had some magic in her hands for her paintings. Her paintings are known as primitive art and later in her life she became famous as primitive artist. The reason behind this is that she used to highlight the cultural people in her paintings. In her childhood she started farming, therefore, whatever she experienced she illustrated that as a painting (Olson). The interaction with different cultural people attracted to her mind due to this, she expressed her feeling and thoughts towards those different cultural people. Most of the people in her paintings are from eighteenth-century with various costumes (Lucy). According to an art historian Olson, Grandma Moses mind was in artistic activities due to this reason, she was pro in her paintings. It was one of the reasons that provided the fame to her paintings. Regardless the fact, Grandma Moses paintings were considered as primitive through which the joy of life can be experienced. Moreover, flat images and lack of shadows, fewer indications of weather can easily be found in her paintings (Lörzing). However, she added glitter to snow scenes and several painting scenes of country life on panels of Masonite. Her art was praised when she used old house paints from the barn. In addition, the Yarn Paintings in which she used yarn embroidery was also much appreciated and depicted her artistic qualities. Though, her style of paintings was very simple, however, it was innovative, contrary to others and original. Although she never attended art school, her art was much better than the other art literate artists. She come in the folk artist category who never been in art schools (Olson). Determinant Herein, it should be noted that the Grandma Moses is also famous due to her determination. As Lucy suggested in his literature that Grandma Moses is a self-taught lady (Lucy). She was determined since her childhood. At the beginning of her life, when many children of her age used to go to the school she quit her school to support her family. Although she faced hard time in her life, she was determent towards her desires. She never quit painting it was the reason due to which her personality is known as determinant artistic personality. She used her experiences and portrayed them in her paintings (Lörzing). As an art was in her nature due to this reason, she had a purpose to look forward to her future. Her will power was very high which supported her to paint even after spending seventy years of her life. At the age of seventy, her fingers became stiff by using the needle but she started to paint again with a serious approach. It supported her to grow in her career at the age of seventy years (Lörzing). She became an inspiration for many other aged ladies as well as for young youth. She was bright enough for her desires, and she knew that she had skills. It made her confident enough to keep painting and creating marvels. Many scholars and artists of that time appreciated her determination towards art (Dacquino). Brave It is a matter of fact that the Grandma Moses is a brave lady. A highlighted part of her personality is bravery. There is a vast literature available on Grandma Moses Bravery as well. The authors Ryan and Schlup also described her brave personality trait in their book. According to Ryan and Schlup, she is a brave woman as well as a brave lady. She is known as a brave painter because of her that hard time which she faced in her childhood (Ryan and Schlup). Though, she was a little girl but, she worked hard and never gave up when she was growing. She left her schooling and became a helper to help another family to support her family. As her parents were raising ten children and they could not support their studies. Therefore, they asked her to be hired by a family in her early age. However, she managed to continue her studies with those family children. She got married at a very young age when she was only twenty years old. After that, she started her life as a responsible wife and a mother and became a labor working on a farm (Sterling). In her life, she faced many struggling phases. However, she adopted different methods to explore her art. For that she started embroidering, sewing and needlework on fabric. With needles and colorful threads she began to make pictures on the fabric. As she had arthritis, she quit the needlework and again began to paint on canvas. It ought to be noted that all these efforts of her life depict her bravery that she was brave enough to face all these hurdles in life (Lörzing). It was her personality trait that helped her to be self-taught. She inspired people to be brave and try things even in later age of life. Moreover, she is known as a cultural icon and a real gem because she has made a special place in the hearts of the people (Dacquino). People remember her because she successfully started an artistic career in a very advanced age. It is also a symbol of her bravery that when old ladies quit working she began to grow in her life. Where there were many trained artists, who were working and who get proper education and trainings for artistic work (Lucy). Her changing difficulties of life are a proof that she was a brave woman of that time who survived and changed her life with her efforts. Leader The author, Sterling claimed that Grandma Moses was a leader from inside, and she poses the entrepreneurship qualities as well (Sterling). It depicts that she had the courage to handle all the situations. The reason to refer to her as a leader and an entrepreneur is that she started her own business of butter churning and selling of her painting and embroidered fabric. As she was a painter inside so soon she left the butter churning business and preferred to sell her paintings. Therefore, she created art with simple things as in start she used pure house paints and yarn for her paintings. However, she was so pro in making paintings. Therefore, she created the masterpieces. Her embroidered pictures were so much admired by friends and relative so she started to sell those images. In the start, she was charging $2 for small paintings and for large paintings she was charging $3 (Ryan and Schlup). After that, she began to display her paintings in small exhibitions. In the exhibition, she earned more than she was earning before because she priced her paintings $3 to $5. She was running her business with her strong leadership and entrepreneur skills. It was her ability that allowed her to receive an award for the outstanding accomplishment in art. Furthermore, she got various awards and trophies by the government. In addition, she earned a lot by selling her paintings and it became a business for her (Olson). Conclusion Through the above analysis on the life of Grandma Moses it can be concluded that she was an artistic, brave, determent, and leader from inside. All her personality traits are depicting that how she managed to raise the level of her life and became famous for her artistic abilities. Herein, it should be noted that the various authors have discussed her in their literature. Therefore, this research paper is based on the literature provided by them. There is vast information available about Grandma Moses in books, which talks about her personality and her will to survive. Through the analysis of all the presented material it can be stated that Grandma Moses personality traits led her towards success. Moreover, there are strong elements of bravery, determination, leadership, and art have be found in her personality. Works Cited Dacquino, V. T. Grandma Moses. New York: Benchmark Education Company, 2010. Print. Lörzing, Han. The Nature of Landscape: A Personal Quest. New York: 010 Publishers, 2001. Print. Lucy R, Lippard. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set. UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Olson, James Stuart. Historical Dictionary of the Great Depression, 1929-1940. US: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Print. Sterling, Mary Ellen. Focus on Artists. Europe : Teacher Created Resources, 1994. Print. Ryan, James G and Leonard. Schlup. Historical Dictionary of the 1940s. Chicago: M.E. Sharpe, 2006. 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