Grandma Moses,American 1860-1961 -Kenyon Old House;oil on canvas, signed 'Moses', 20.5 x 25.76 cm (unframed)Provenance: the artist; Sidney Janis c.1940; private collection and thence by descent; Sotheby's, Arcade Sale, 15th March 1986, sale no.157, lot 267; The Geoffrey and Fay Elliott Collection, purchased from the above and thence by descentImages: Copyright Grandma Moses Properties Co., New YorkNote: catalogue raisonne number Kallir 1572A self-taught painter, Grandma Moses is one of America's most beloved folk artists. This work was originally handled by legendary dealer, Sidney Janis, whose gallery was an early exhibitor of the Abstract Expressionists, as well as Modern European masters. Janis included her work in the show ‘Contemporary Unknown American Painters’ at the Museum of Modern Art in 1939, which brought her work to national attention.The bucolic landscapes of Grandma Moses were inspired by the landscape and villages of rural East Coast America, idealised through her own imagination - “What’s the use of painting a picture if it isn’t something nice?” she asked.After spending most of her life working in rural New York and Virginia on farms, she started painting New England landscapes only at the age of 77.