Epiphany was celebrated on Tuesday, January 6, this year. The King James Version of the Book of Matthew tells the story: “There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews, for we saw his star in the east, and are come to worship him?” (2:1-2) Then “the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.” (2: 9)

The Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden (c.1400-1464) was commissioned to paint more than one version of the Nativity story and the Adoration of the Magi.

This van der Weyden “Nativity’’ (1445-50) (8’x4’) is a triptych with two folding wings. The center Nativity scene takes place in a stable with a thatched roof. The brick walls and classical columns reference European and Roman structures. The three windows are symbols of the Trinity. The elderly Joseph kneels and holds a single lighted candle. Angels attend the birth. A white dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, perches on the roof beam. An ox and ass are part of the scene. At the left and in the distance, an angel appears to the shepherds.

The altarpiece is known as the Middleburg Altar and the Bladelin Altar. The new church in Middleburg was built by the commissioner of the altar, Pieter Bladelin (1410-1472), who served as treasurer for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Bladelin is the figure dressed in the fur-trimmed black tunic and kneeling in prayer. 

The painting on the panel on the left side is a scene in which the Roman Emperor Augustus, while consulting the Tiberian Sibyl as to who was the most powerful man, saw a vision of Mary and Christ. The stain glass panels in the window include the Hapsburg double-headed eagles. Augustus, like King Philip the Good of Flanders, recognized Christ as King. 

The panel on the right side contains the scene of the Magi, kneeling and looking up at the Star. Van der Weyden added the figure of the Christ child in the center of the star. The Magi are dressed in rich brocades, fur, and satins typical of Flemish dress of the time. They represent the three ages of man. 

Magi, the old Persian name for the priests of Zoroaster, meant they were not kings, but wise men with knowledge of astronomy, medicine, and divination. They were gentiles. They brought three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and therefore were numbered as three. The names Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar first appeared in the 6th Century CE. By the 12th Century they represented the three ages of man. In the 15th Century, wider trade led to their being thought of as travelers from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Eventually Melchior was depicted as old, Balthasar as African and middle aged, and Caspar as European and the youngest. 

 

“The Three Kings Altar’’ (1450-56) (54’’x60’’) was painted near the end of van der Weyden’s life for the Church of St Columba in Cologne. The stable has no walls and is in disrepair. The thatched roof is in shambles. One interesting addition is the small crucifix hung on the central stone column. It forecasts what was to come. The Gospel of Matthew describes the event: “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.” Melchior, having removed his hat, kneels at Mary’s side, holding the Christ child’s feet and kissing his hand as if he were a King. Balthasar, not represented as an African, holds a gold container of frankincense and begins to kneel.  Caspar removes his hat and waits his turn. All are lavishly dressed. Joseph, holding his cane, looks on from the left. The three-legged stool, symbol of the Trinity, perhaps holds the gift of gold from Melchior. Behind Joseph, the donor kneels outside the stable, rosary in hand. The ox and the ass look on. The panoramic scene set behind the stable presumably represents Cologne. A number of citizens already have reached the stable. Many others walk down a distant path to the stable. 

The left panel contains a scene of the beginning of the Christmas story, the annunciation to Mary.  The right panel contains a scene of Mary and Joseph taking Christ to the temple to be blessed. As was the custom, they bring with them a basket containing two doves that will be offered to buy back their son. 

The Venerable Bede (673-735) described the gifts Christ was given as both practical and symbolic. Gold represented His royalty; frankincense, used in religious services, His divinity; and myrrh, used in burials, His mortality. In the 12th Century, St Bernard suggested a more practical reason for each gift. Gold would be useful for their life in Egypt, frankincense would help with the smells of the stable, myrrh that would drive out worms.  

Shrine of the Three Kings (1180-1225) (43” wide x 60” high x 87” long) is a reliquary that holds the bones of the Three Wise Men created by Nicholas of Verdun (c.1130-1205), a Mosan goldsmith, metalworker, and enamellist. The shrine is placed behind the high altar of the Cathedral of Cologne. Nicholas was from Verdun, France, on the Meuse River. Mosan refers to the architecture, sculpture, stone carving, metal work, and manuscript style of the first golden age of Netherlands art.  

The bones of the Magi were found by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine I, and she brought them to Constantinople. In 314 she gave them to Bishop Eustorgius of Milan. Helena was known to have found many relics. The city of Milan was conquered by Cologne, and the bones were taken there as spoils of war. Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV gave the three crowns of the Magi to Cologne and donated material to complete the shrine. 

Nicholas constructed the shrine in the shape of a basilica covered with gold and silver. It is decorated with seventy-four high-relief figures that represent the prophets, apostles, evangelists, and the Three Kings. Scenes include the Adoration of the Magi, Mary Enthroned with Christ, Baptism of Christ, and the Last Judgment. Filigree designs, enamels, and more than 1000 jewels and beads decorate the exterior. The shrine holds the skulls of the Magi, wearing their crowns, and their bones. The Shrine was considered so magnificent and important that the cathedral was rebuilt in 1248 to be worthy of it. 

---

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

The Feast of Stephen occurs each year on December 26. The feast day may be familiar; it is mentioned in the carol “Good King Wenceslas” (1853). There was in fact a St Stephen and a good King Wenceslas. Boxing Day also is on December 26. 

 

St Stephen (c. 5-36 CE) was one of the seven deacons of the early Christian church in Jerusalem. He was known for caring for poor, often forgotten people by giving them gifts of food and other necessities.  He was a Hellenistic Jew, and he preached about the synagogues’ slight of Hellenistic Jews and favor toward Hebrew Jews. The Sanhedrin, the supreme legislative and judicial council in ancient Israel, accused Stephen of blasphemy against Moses and God. “St Stephen Martyrdom” (1324) (10’’x20’’), by Bernardo Daddi (c.1290-1348) of Florence, is one of eight panels from an altarpiece in the church of Santa Croce. On the left side of the panel is a depiction of the trial before the Sanhedrin. St Stephen prays as he is found guilty. On the right side is a depiction of his stoning. He is acknowledged as the first Christian martyr.

Bernardo Daddi was a follower of Giotto who introduced greater realism in his painting. The human figures have more natural proportions, gestures, and expressions. His use of shadow gives them weight and mass. Fabrics drape naturally around their bodies. Their feet appear to be flat on the ground. Although faces are similar, he attempted to represent distinct individuals. His settings begin to have perspective. He attempted to paint a usable space. Although the leader of the Sanhedrin is too tall to stand up in the room, the door to the outside is tall enough to accommodate St Stephen and the others. Outside, a green lawn and a deep blue sky replace traditional solid gold as a background. 

“The Martyrdom of St Stephen” (1671) (172”x109’’), by Flemish Baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), offers a striking comparison between the early attempts at realism in the Early Renaissance in Italy and the full-blown realism of the 17th Century. On the left panel, Stephen preaches to the people about his concerns. He stands on the steps of a classical Roman building. Three of those around him listen intently. Perhaps the elderly figure in white with the elegant blue and gold on his robe is a member of the opposition. He listens intently, but with a hand held behind his back.

The stoning of Stephen is depicted on the central panel. Well-muscled men throw the stones with power. Stephen has begun to turn the ashen color of death. He looks up and cries out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:54-60) Before he died Stephen forgave his persecutors. In the right corner is Saul of Tarsus, keeping the discarded robes of those stoning Stephen. This act shows his consent to the stoning. Saul would become a major persecutor of Christians until his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus. He was known from that time as St Paul the Apostle. The right panel is a depiction of the burial of St Stephen.

St Stephen was depicted as a young man wearing a deacon’s dalmatic robe. “St Stephen” (1330-35) (33”x22’’) is an early image by the famous Florentine artist Giotto (c.1267-1337). Giotto tried to give Stephen a compassionate expression because he was known to be compassionate. His dalmatic is decorated with elaborately woven bands of gold embroidery. He holds a book as tribute to his faith and his teaching. Giotto attempted to depict realistically Stephen’s fingers holding the book. 

The two rocks on his head are symbols of his martyrdom, one of the things all artists had trouble integrating into their paintings. Stephen is the patron saint of deacons, bricklayers, and stonemasons.

In portraits of this period, the golden background was influenced by Byzantine painting. Gold ingots were pounded into thin leaves and applied onto a layer of bole, wet red clay.  It could then be incised into elaborate patterns as seen in this work. 

 

“St Stephen” (1476) (24’’x16”), painted by Carlo Crevelli (1435-1495), was commissioned by the Dominicans in Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy. They believed Stephen provided an excellent example of teaching and preaching to non-believers. Cervelli was trained in Venice, painted in the elaborate and highly decorative style of Venice, and was known for his extensive use of gold. The dalmatic decorations are an example of the richness of Venetian gold embroidery.  The gold would gleam in the candle light of church services. Stephen holds a palm branch, a symbol of martyrdom, also of triumph, peace, and eternal life. Waving palm branches were part of the celebration of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The stones on his head and shoulders are necessary to identify Stephen. 

 

 

Wenceslas (907-935) (Vaclav the Good) was not a king, but he was the beloved Duke of Bohemia. He was raised as a Catholic by his grandmother Ludmilla. He was known for his concern and care for widows, orphans, and even prisoners. He spread the Christian faith throughout his kingdom, much to the displeasure of his mother and brother Boleslaus the Cruel. “Wenceslaus fleeing from his brother” (1006) is an illuminated manuscript from the Gumpold Codex, commissioned in 980 CE by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II and his wife. It is a depiction of the murder of Wenceslaus on September 28, 905 by his brother and others on his way to pray in the chapel. The final blow was delivered by his brother. In the illustration, Wenceslaus tries to escape into the chapel, but the priest closes the door. September 28 was declared his feast day and is celebrated in the Czech Republic, Bohemia, and Slovakia. Wenceslas was declared a saint by the people of Bohemia immediately after his death, and the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, declared him be a king. 

 

 

The St Wenceslas Chapel was built in the 14th Century by King Charles IV, and it is the main chapel in the Cathedral of St Vitus in Prague.  His tomb and relics are decorated lavishly.  Over 1,300 Bohemian gemstones set in gold decorate the lower wall. The 275 square yards of Gothic frescoes on the upper wall depict scenes of his life and the life of Christ. 

 

John Mason Neale (1818-1866), an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymn writer wrote the carol “Good King Wenceslas” in 1853. His scholarship included an interest in medieval literature and music. He wrote the lyrics to fit the music of the 13th Century Spring carol “The Blooming Time is Here” that he and his partner Thomas Helmore found in a Finnish song book from 1582. The carol was published first in a children’s book in 1849 and then in his “Carols for Christmastide” in 1853.

“Good King Wenceslas” (1879) is an engraving by the Brothers Dalziel. Their engraving company, founded in London in 1839, worked with such artists as Whistler, Rossetti, and Lewis Carol. The engraving was included in a hymn book published by Henry Ramsden in 1879. King Wenceslas and his page are shown trudging through the snow carrying food and aid to the poor people of Bohemia. In verse four, the page, about to collapse, says:  

‘Sire, the night is darker now

And the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.’

Wenceslas responds:  

‘Mark my footsteps, good my page,
Tread thou in them boldly:

Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.’

Boxing Day, generally considered an English holiday, is also celebrated on December 26. In Victorian Britain the wealthy gave their servants the day after Christmas off to visit their families. After all they had worked hard preparing and serving the Christmas dinner. When they left, they were given a Christmas box which held food, small gifts, and money. Churches put boxes out for parishioners to leave donations for the poor. The connection between St Stephen and Boxing Day encouraged people to give gifts to those in need, as St Stephen had done. 

---

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

Christmas with Grandma Moses

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860-1961) began painting at age 78. Her paintings of bygone American life were discovered in 1938, and her popularity continues to this day.

The Time Magazine cover on December 28, 1953, featured a portrait of Grandma Moses painted by Boris Chaliapin, along with the text “Christmas is not just one day.”  Her smiling face was set in front of a snowy winter landscape with a church in the background. Moses painted all the seasons of the year and hundreds of scenes of farm life in rural America where she grew up. Among her 2000 paintings are celebrations of Christmas. She once wrote, “I forget everything, everything except how things used to be.” 

Winter snow scenes were among Moses’s favorites, especially at Christmas. “Let Me Help” is a depiction of the community gathering to help cut Christmas trees for the nearby church, and perhaps for the farm house up the road. There are at least three trees down. In the left corner a horse and rider pull a cut tree into the scene. In the center foreground, two figures cut down a second tree. A third tree already has been cut and roped to a horse for transport. The scene includes gaily dressed villagers, some talking, a pair with a sled and a dog, and a pair with an axe. In the distance, a barn, snow-covered trees, an evergreen forest, and the cold winter sky complete the scene. As always, Moses painted a joyful and peaceful memory of days gone by.

Waiting for Christmas” (1960) is an unusual painting for Moses. It is a close-up view of a bedroom in which four children are all nestled together in the heavy wood bed. They are covered with a “charm” quilt made with random shapes and no pattern. These quilts were popular in the 1870s and often contained fabric from other items used in the household. Fabrics were traded among quilt makers to obtain as many different designs as possible. Three of the children are asleep, but the child with dark hair and eyes is awake, waiting for Christmas. The head board is decorated with greens. A rumpled round woven rug is on the floor.  Two red stockings are hung on the small wicker chair. A spinning wheel is set in the lower left corner of the scene. 

Moses typically painted landscapes, and she used bright colors everywhere. The landscape in this painting is in a frame and hangs on the wall. 

Moses’s Christmas images became so popular they were used on Christmas cards, other greeting cards, jam jars, curtains, and postage stamps. Hallmark sold 16 million Moses Christmas cards in 1947.  “Here Comes Santa Claus” (1948) (15”x23”) is one of several paintings on this theme. The full moon lights up the snowy scene. Bright stars fill the deep blue sky. Moses painted from the sky down. Tall snow-covered trees link earth and sky. Down from the sky to the cozy house comes Santa Claus in his sleigh drawn by eight reindeer. Delightful.

 

 

The same sky, stars, and trees are present. Moses features the roof top of the house on which Santa has parked his decorated yellow sleigh filled with packages. Some spill onto the roof. She manages to get all eight reindeer on the roof. Looking closer, the viewer can see a small section of Santa’s red suit sticking out the left chimney. 

Grandma Moses was 100 years old on September 7, 1960. Governor Nelson Rockefeller declared her birthday, Grandma Moses Day. Life magazine published a photograph of her on its cover on September 19, 1960, with wishes for a happy 100th birthday.   

“So Long till Next Year” (1960) is a depiction of the end of the story as Santa waves to the viewer from his sleigh as he and his reindeer fly back to the North Pole. The landscape, including the trees, the house, and the sky, is repeated. This painting is one of the 25 Moses completed during the last year of her life. She would paint for five hours, and without an easel, in the kitchen or bedroom. She said, “I’ll get an inspiration and start painting: then I forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live.”

 

Wishing everyone the very best of holidays.

---

 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas. The celebration of her feast day on December 12 dates back to the 16th century. Her story can be found in several chronicles of the time. She is particularly important in Mexico, where her story originated. 

 

On Saturday morning December 9, 1531, on Tepeyac Hill, 28 miles from Mexico City, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a 57-year-old widower of Aztec ancestry.  She spoke in Nahuatl, his native tongue. She told Diago to ask the bishop of Mexico, Juan de Zumarraga, to build a chapel in her honor on the place where they stood. He told the bishop of his vision, and the bishop asked for a sign from the Virgin. She appeared again to Diego and told him to gather roses, even though it was winter. He gathered the roses in his cloak (tilma) and returned with them to the bishop. When the roses tumbled from his cloak, the image of the Virgin miraculously appeared on the garment. The ‘’Image of Virgin of Guadalupe” (1531) on the cloak hangs today above the high altar of the new Basilica of Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill. The cloak was a catalyst for the conversion of many indigenous people to Catholicism. She is the patroness of the Americas and a symbol of Mexican identity. The Basilica is one of the most visited Marian sites in the world, and the most visited Catholic church except for St Peter’s in Rome.

The crown above the cloak was placed there on October 12, 1895, during the Canonical Coronation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The Mexican flag hangs below the cloak.

“Virgin of Guadalupe” (1691) (72”x49’’) (Los Angeles County Museum) was painted by Manuel de Arellano (1662-1722), a well-known artist in 17th Century Mexico. The many paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe were intentional copies of the painting on the cloak.  As a result, the image was not altered from the original, but in almost all, four scenes of Juan’s interaction with the Virgin were added to the four corners. Later artists also added elaborate borders of flowers, particularly roses, and birds. Arellano painted in the Spanish Baroque style of chiaroscuro, using a rich color palette in the border.

In the fourth and final part of the story, Diego holds his cloak with the roses, and kneels in the presence of the Virgin. Mexico City can be seen beneath her image, and the image of the Virgin can be seen on the edge of the cloak.

“Virgin of Guadalupe” (1698) (84”x37’’) was created by Miguel Gonzales. The medium is mother-of-pearl on wood, called enconchado, popular at the time. A variety of shells are placed on the painting like mosaic tiles and then covered with a glaze. Gonzales’s work repeats the traditional images, but the medium makes the work glow. 

Angels hold the four corner scenes, a dove flies above Mary’s head, a unique shield sits at the Virgin’s feet, all surrounded by an elaborate floral border that includes red and gold flowers and small scenes of a ladder, palm tree, ship, lily, and fountain from Bible references. For example, Mary was believed to be the ship of salvation, as was Noah’s ark. The white lily is a symbol of Mary’s virginity. Marion iconography was abundant in Baroque paintings.

At the top left corner, angels guide Diego to the Virgin. At the top right, Mary appears to Diego. At the lower left, Diego goes away with a cloak full of roses. At the lower right, Diego shows the roses and the image on his cloak to the bishop.

 

The shield beneath the figure of the Virgin had both religious and political significance. The creoles of Mexico sought a symbol that would distinguish them from old Spain. The eagle and cactus became popular.  Mexican myths told about the founding of the ancient Aztec capital city Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City. The solar god Huitzilopochtli told the people they would find the destination of their new home when they found an eagle on a cactus. The current Mexican flag design was adopted on September 16, 1968, but the central image is a version of the original 1821 design, and it also is found in Gonzales’s shell inlay work. Famous explorer and conquistador Hernando Cortez (1485-1547) carried a banner with the image of the Virgin when he brought down the Aztec empire in 1521.

“Virgin of Guadalupe” (1824) (23’’x15’’) was painted by Isidro Escamilla after the 1821 Act of Independence that formally ended Spanish reign in America. Always a popular image, the Virgin of Guadalupe became even more important as a figure whose divine help was a factor in freeing the people from Spanish rule. The part in Mary’s hair is a symbol of her virginity. She wears a cross, her hands are folded in prayer, and she wears a dark ribbon around her waist, over her womb. She is expecting a child. The Spanish word for pregnancy, encinta, means adorned with a ribbon. Her blue-green cloak represents Heaven; the reddish robe represents Earth. The stars on her robe are arranged in their position in the sky on December 12, 1531.

Her reddish gown is decorated with four-petaled jasmine flowers, a sign of the divine to the Aztecs and a symbol that the age of peace has come. A jasmine flower is placed over Mary’s womb. Mary is surrounded by the rays of the Sun. The crescent Moon under her feet is a Christian symbol of her perpetual virginity as well as of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of the Moon. An angel supports both the Moon and the Virgin. At the bottom, the two angels hold a rose and a palm branch, and at the top, one plays a violin while the other plays a guitar. Red and blue roses adorn the sides. Escamilla used gold paint to depict the rays of the sun, to cover Mary’s gown with jasmine flowers, and to accent the roses. Her crown also is gold.

The Virgin of Guadalupe who appeared to Diego was Aztec; therefore, her complexion was traditionally painted with a greyish tint. Her connection with Aztec culture and Roman Catholicism continues to be strong. Twenty-five popes have honored her, and Pope John Paul II visited her shrine four times. On his third visit in 1999, he declared December 12 the Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent. Juan Diego was canonized by John Paul II on July 31, 2002.

---

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses was born on September 7, 1860, in Greenwich, New York.  Her family worked on farms, and she described herself as a life-long farm woman. She attended a one- room school where she began to learn to draw. Her father encouraged all his children to draw. When she was 27, she married the “hired man” Thomas Salmon Moses, and they worked on local farms from Virginia to Eagle Bridge, New York. They had ten children; five survived into adulthood. In each location, Moses decorated the family’s home with her embroidery. When Thomas died in 1927, their son Forrest helped her on the farm. In 1936, at the age of 76, Moses developed arthritis, and she turned to painting because it was easier work. She told reporters that she turned to painting to make a Christmas gift for the postman, because it “was easier to make than to bake a cake over a hot stove.” At 92 she wrote, “I was quite small, my father would get me and my brother’s white paper by the sheet. He liked to see us draw pictures. It was a penny a sheet and lasted longer than candy.”

 

“Catching the Thanksgiving Turkey” (1943) (15”x19”) is a depiction of a subject Moses returned to several times. Thanksgiving was declared a holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, but the day of celebration was left up to each President. It was not until 1941 that Congress declared the fourth Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day.

Moses painted “Catching the Thanksgiving Turkey” with four colors: red, white, black, and blue. The ground is covered with snow, and it is still snowing. Moses did not study perspective or anatomy, but she had a keen eye for details. The two-story white farm house is detailed with a light grey-blue paint. She used red and black blocks of paint to depict the brick chimney. Three figures stand outside the open front door. The one in red seems to be waving. Another with the white hair and wearing the black coat, stands next to the well. In front of the blue barn, others in red jackets and black pants try to catch the turkeys. Some head out in a horse drawn sleigh, and a hunter stands at the center and looks on. A figure stands in front of the open barn door. Beyond the barn, a man drives two horses by the fence. Two other men stand under a tree. 

The scene is a panoramic landscape. The fence draws the viewer’s eye from the lower left, past another farm structure and some trees, and beyond the barn into the distance. It is November, but all the leaves have not fallen from the trees. A forested hill stands out against the white snow in the middle distance. Another farm, more fences and houses can be seen in the distance. The blue mountains are covered in snow. The scene is dotted with large, white snowflakes. 

Moses began by selling paintings for three or five dollars. The Museum of Modern Art in New York included her work in its 1939 exhibit “Contemporary Unknown American Painters.” Her painting caught the attention of several influential people. One was Otto Kallir, founder of Galerie St Etienne in New York. He organized in 1940 an exhibition of Moses paintings that was titled “What a Farm Wife Painted.” The New York Herald nicknamed her Grandma Moses. She spoke at a Gimbels Department store, and she was an instant success. 

“Sugaring Off” (1943) (36”x45’’) is a depiction of another November activity and a theme Moses returned to 35 times. She described her process: “First the sky, then the mountain, then the hills, then trees, then the houses, then the cattle and then the people.”  Native Americans taught the process of sugaring off to the colonists. The painting includes the entire process of making maple syrup and candy from the sap. The leafless maple trees are tapped and the sap is caught in buckets. The sap is placed in large iron kettles over a fire, and it is boiled down to form a dark syrup that is put into molds and containers. Some of the syrup is poured onto the snow to make sugar candy.  Adults work or watch, while the children play. Horse drawn sleighs, groups of cattle, and snow-covered houses and barns are included in the composition, with a church and villages in the distance. The snow in the foreground has been trampled by the people and animals, but in the distance it is pristine. Moses painted hills, trees, and distant mountains to create the panoramic view. She shaded the entire scene with blue to create the impression of a cold November day. 

“Sugaring Off” (1943) sold at Christie’s New York for $1.36 million in 2006, setting a record for a Moses painting. 

In 1939 the Museum of Modern Art called the paintings by Grandma Moses “modern primitive.” Primitive artists lack formal training, generally use simple shapes, bright colors, and the work often appears childlike.  The piece often is a depiction of everyday activities, and it is intended to connect to nature and something that is culturally and spiritually significant. All of these things were true of her work. She avoided modern things like tractors and telephone poles. Contemporary art in the 1940s and after WWII in the 1950s was largely Abstract Expressionism, to many viewers confusing and morbid. Moses said, “I’ll not paint something we know nothing about, might just as well paint something that will happen a thousand years hence.”

Her paintings were and continue to be tremendously popular. Exhibitions of her paintings broke attendance records. President Truman gave her The Women’s National Press Club Trophy Award for outstanding accomplishments in art in 1949.  She was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1953. Her autobiography My Life’s History was published in 1952. A documentary about her was nominated for an Oscar in 1950. Exhibitions of her work were held throughout America and Europe. She was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees, in 1949 by Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, and in 1951 by Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. When Moses turned 88 in 1948, Mademoiselle magazine named her “Young Woman of the Year.” Norman Rockwell and Moses lived near each other and were close friends.  

When she painted “Turkeys” (1958) (16’’x24’’) (SAAM), Moses said, “The very first Thanksgiving I remember was about the year of 1864,” and she never stopped remembering the holiday and making paintings of it to viewers’ delight.  The setting of “Turkeys” is viewed from a different angle. The road and house are closer, the village and church are just down the road, and the landscape is covered with snow. A man runs down the road with an axe, and another figure in the field has caught the turkey by its tail feathers. The turkeys at the lower right are painted in a new variety of feather colors. Moses commented, “Poor turkey. He has but one life to give for his country.”

The writer of her obituary in 1961 in the New York Times noted that the “simple realism, nostalgic atmosphere and luminous color with which Grandma Moses portrayed simple farm life and rural countryside won her wide following.”

President John Kennedy spoke of her: “The death of Grandma Moses removed a beloved figure from American life. The directness and vividness of her paintings restore a primitive freshness to our perception of the American scene…All America mourns her loss.”

“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.” (Anna Mary Robertson Moses)

---

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

Christi Belcourt, a Metis and First Nations of Canada artist, was born in 1968 in Scarborough, Ontario. She now lives in Lac Ste Anne, Alberta. 

Belcourt depicts traditional designs of the Metis people. They are of mixed race whose progenitors were First Nations women and European men, fur traders from France, England, and Scotland. They developed a language, government, and culture distinct from that of other indigenous people. The Manitoba Act of 1870 made the land of the Metis part of Canada. Belcourt’s paintings capture the Metis people’s appreciation of the beauty of the natural world and their deep concern for its preservation.

The Metis people were known as the Flower Bead People. “Water Song” (2010-11) (80’’x231”) (acrylic) was inspired by one of their crafts.  The canvas is covered with approximately 250,000 dots, applied with the tip of the paint brush. Clusters of roots in the water surround the lower edge of the composition. Burdock root flowers, their green leaves and small red berries are in the lowest and central section of the work. They are used for cleansing and women’s medicine.  Plants included are the wild rose, trillium, blueberry, plantain, sundew, clubmoss, Indian pipe, shrink cabbage, lady’s slipper, yarrow, thistle, chokecherry, tamarack, maple, clover, nettles, red clover, maples, oak, pinecones, and strawberries, the first fruit of spring. Birds included are the downy woodpecker, barn owl, nuthatch, and northern flicker. Two warblers sing at the top of the painting.  The small white flowers of a milkweed plant are placed at the center, with monarch butterflies at either side. Milkweed is a major food source for monarch butterflies, now an endangered species.

This detail of the right side of the composition includes a yellow warbler singing. Beneath are pine cones and needles, and a barn owl.  At the far left are the white dots of the milkweed and the monarch butterfly. 

The painting attracted the attention of Dior designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. With Belcourt’s permission, some of the 2016 Resort Collection featured designs from the painting. Belcourt explained that “A lot of the beadwork tradition and imagery that I work with was originally put on items that were for use of some sort, including clothing.  And then in my painting practice, I took that imagery and practice of beadwork and transferred it into paint and put it onto canvas. So then to take this artwork that was done in paint and put it back onto clothing was almost like it had come full circle. That was exciting.”

“Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead) (stain glass window) (2012), located in the Centre Block of the Parliament Building of Canada, represents the 2008 apology of the Canadian government to the indigenous people of Canada for the policy of placing children in Indian residential schools. The top panel includes the date 2008 and a female shape that integrates the Canadian maple leaf and feathers. The left panel includes the image in white of Phil Fontaine, the Grande Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, holding a drum and drum stick. In 1990, he was the first to speak out about his life in the residential school. Others began to speak out, and reconciliation began, represented by the white dove holding the olive branch. The shattered glass represents the lives that were shattered. The middle section, largely created in black and white glass, represents life in the schools. The top right side of the window commemorations the Apology to former students offered by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 11, 2008: “I am filled with optimism… a new day has dawned, a new day heralded by a commitment to reconciliation and building a new relationship with Inuit, Métis and First Nations.”  The lines represent rays of sunshine.  Doves and an eagle fly upward as if toward the future. A tribal elder wearing a “jingle dress” represents healing. The colors yellow, black, white, red, green, and blue are the colors used in medicine wheels, the sun dance, and lodges. The grandfather sings a traditional song to signify the restoration of the songs, dances, ceremonies, and languages of the people. The mother and child illustrate the return to traditional child rearing. At the bottom of both panels, the circle has been connected and is complete. Grandmothers sit in their lodges and smoke peacefully as traditions are restored. The strawberries hold a significant place in Metis culture as they are the first fruits of a new spring and represent a new beginning.

Belcourt received the Ontario Arts Council Aboriginal Arts Award in 2014. “Wisdom of the Universe” (2014) (67×111’’) represents plants and animals that are on the endangered species list: Dwarf Lake Iris, Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid, Karner Blue Butterfly, West Virginia White Butterfly, Spring Blue-eyed Mary, Cerulean Warbler, and Acadian Flycatcher. Belcourt writes stories or comments to go with many of the works. She wrote about this piece: “Globally, we live in a time of great upheaval. The state of the world is in crisis. We are witness to the unbearable suffering of species, including humans. Much of this we do to ourselves. It is possible for the planet to return to a state of well-being, but it requires a radical change in our thinking. It requires a willingness to be open to the idea that perhaps human beings have got it all wrong. All species, the lands, the waters are one beating organism that pulses like a heart. We are all a part of a whole. The animals and plants, lands and waters, are our relatives each with as much right to exist as we have…Perhaps it’s time to place the rights of Mother Earth ahead of the rights to Mother Earth.”  

Belcourt is an advocate for other social and environmental causes. She initiated in 2011 the Walking with Our Sisters project, inspired by seeing too many posters about missing indigenous women: “One day, I saw one that hit me harder than usual, because the girl on the poster looked like my daughter.” In response to her Facebook appeal for 600 beaded moccasin tops for an exhibition to represent these women, 1,723 pairs were sent from all over the world, and 65 beading circle projects sprung up in Canada, United States, and Europe. The moccasin tops, called vamps, tongues, or uppers, were not sewn onto the moccasins to represent the unfinished lives of the missing women. The project toured in 30 Canadian and US locations from 2012 until 2019. Each exhibition was created specifically for each location. 

From 2010 until 2013, Belcourt organized with Jon and Kerry Butler and Sophie Edwards an art project to protect Willisville Mountain, where several famous Canadian artists had made art history with their paintings. The Mountain, owned by a mining company, was under threat of being quarried, thus the destruction of the beauty of the famous area. The pressure of 45 artists caused the cancellation of the development, and the beauty of the mountain was preserved. She co-founded the Onaman Collective in 2014 to preserve traditional knowledge and language and to teach it to the young. The Collective raises awareness of the need to protect the Great Lakes and other bodies of water. Since 2017, proceeds from her works and awards have been donated to Nimkii Aazhibikong, a year-round camp to revitalize the Anishinaabemowin language among indigenous people. She is the author of at least four books, one on native medicines and another on Beadwork. She received in 2016 the Premier Arts Award and a Governor General’s Award for Innovation. 

Belcourt continues to paint in her unique style, and she continues to add text for the viewer. In “Offerings to Save the World” (2017) (72’’x55’’) her focus once again is on water, and this time the painting takes on a mystical theme. Water spouts arise from the bottom of the canvas to reach the sky. Interwoven with the blue sky and water are stars, fish, and frogs. Two spiritual indigenous figures are placed on either side of the water. They bring offerings and pray.  They sit and stand upon an abundance of flowers. A dark female figure appears to rise from the water. 

The accompanying text: ‘’Quick! Drop everything. The future will look as the past. The Elders have foretold. Quick! Give everything. For every baby to be born. Of every species forever to come. Born into water. Born onto an earth of water. Quick! Go to the River. Bring your shaker. Sing to save the world. Quick! Go to the Water’s edge. Bring feast food. Give offerings to save the world. Mother Earth is the almighty.’’

“The Earth is My Government” (2017) (51’’x72’’) expresses another of Belcourt’s responses to the world in which she finds herself. The deep blue of the water and sky contain stars, birds, and fish. The spirit of the buffalo that had provided for many of the needs of indigenous people over hundreds of years also resides in this blue world. The buffalo shape contains the flower beading of the Metis. The Metis people were not recognized by Canada as indigenous peoples until 1982 in Section 35 of the Constitution Act. They finally obtained the right to self-government in 2019. Belcourt’s saying that the earth is my government can be understood better in these circumstances.

Remaining true to her strong beliefs, she protested that her name should be removed from the Metis Nation of Ontario registry because she disagreed with the deals that were being made with Energy East, Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and others. She was involved in establishing the 150 Acts of Resistance to counter the government’s “Canada 150” to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Canada in 2017. She said they were “ignoring basically all of the First Nations, Métis Nations and Inuit people that have been here for 15,000 years…The other thing is that we wanted to be able to showcase the good things that are happening in our nations that we should really be celebrating. We wanted to feature examples of history, of resistance, resilience and resurgence. All the restoration work being done on the grassroots level is really inspiring.” In 2023 she received an Honorary Doctorates in Visual Arts from Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and Doctor of Letters from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario.

“I Envy Their Freedom” (2020) (31”x31’’) reminds viewers how important water is to the world. The title is understandable in light of Belcourt’s continued battle to save the future of Earth. Rest is needed to continue the fight. Her process is a type of meditation. Each painting is meticulously executed with tiny dots, requiring an extraordinary amount of time and concentration, resulting in calm. 

“I want all human beings to feel connected to the earth, because ultimately, we are all of this earth, and in becoming connected to the earth and to the waters, we are more likely to want to protect those for future generations. It is a form of expression of who I am that also, at its fundamental core, relates to all of us as human beings, who are living on this planet, with other beings who deserve to have a clean environment.” (Christi Belcourt)

---

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.