Mt. Nebo on the Hill 1940

Curator: Here we have Grandma Moses’s “Mt. Nebo on the Hill”, created around 1940. It's a work rendered with yarn on textile. What catches your eye? Editor: Well, it's surprisingly tactile! The texture looks so rich, almost sculptural in its accumulation of stitches. A quaint pastoral scene given such tangible depth through this materiality. Curator: Exactly! It’s so interesting how this “outsider” folk artist uses humble materials like yarn to create this vision of rural Americana, which resonates so powerfully precisely because of this direct, unpretentious means. Editor: The domesticity of the materials clashes ironically with how rural life was rapidly changing in the 40s. So is Moses idealizing, preserving a vanishing past? Curator: I would agree, there's an undeniable nostalgic gaze, but I would consider Moses to also be very pragmatic. She lived through substantial economic shifts, and was savvy about understanding a demand in the art market. While rooted in personal history, it became a commodity too. Editor: I see your point about that demand. It speaks volumes that the labor of embroidery, a traditionally 'feminine' craft, becomes a viable art form – still dismissed by many institutions, of course, but here gaining recognition! Curator: Indeed! And let's remember that this idyllic landscape isn’t a neutral depiction. It represents a deliberate construction, carefully cultivated imagery that fulfilled a role as something desirable and familiar amidst upheaval of the second World War, speaking of perseverance and rootedness. Editor: That certainly provides an important framework for understanding its impact. Even today, the charm resides not only in the picture itself, but also in the tangible making, this link back to a tradition of domestic creativity that holds a different kind of cultural capital. Curator: I agree, and seeing art within that wider social fabric really helps one value this unique legacy. Editor: Absolutely! That’s what moves me to value the materiality of the craft; and the story it subtly tells!