My Own Grandma Moses

Posted by Rachel, Editorial Coordinator

While the New York City summer may be slowly drawing to a close, I'll still be waking up at the Jersey Shore each day, thanks to "The Bathers," a 30-year-old painting by my maternal grandmother that hangs at the foot of my bed. Although she has since retired, my grandmother was quite the prolific artist in her day: Between raising her six children and, later, keeping a watchful eye on their kids, she was somehow able to find time to sneak away to her studio on a regular basis. 

This particular piece originally hung in my grandparents' stairwell (where I first fell for it during my repeated childhood attempts to slide down their banister), and I jumped at the chance to own it when she offered it to me.

 

Above my dresser hangs a pastel sketch of another Jersey beach.  This one is of the dunes at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where my grandmother would take me during the summer. (She also let me hang out in her studio, where I drew, colored, and tried to keep my ice cream from melting all over the crayons and the floor.) Ever the inventive artist, my grandmother drew this piece on shirt cardboard from the dry cleaner. She'd use anything and everything as canvas, and since my grandfather was quite the dapper dresser at the time, there was no shortage of material to work with. The engraved silver bowl beneath the sketch is an award she received in 1965 from her local arts festival. 

 

The drawing of the nudes (below, left) was my first "acquisition."  It was inspired by Matisse (specifically, his "Dance"), one of her favorite artists.

I recently brought home another of her paintings -- this time, an abstract expressionist depiction of the Brooklyn Bridge -- and my husband and I still haven't decided where in our Brooklyn apartment to hang it.   (We just know that we love it.)

Perhaps we'll put it up in our own stairwell, so that our daughter can grow to appreciate her great-grandmother's enormous talent the same way that I once did. (On second thought, make that without the banister-sliding.)

What are your favorite family heirlooms? Or have you bought (or made) anything yourself that you think is destined to become an heirloom?

Comments

[Rachel]

Hi, Kristina

The Frenchie linocut print is from John Derian (212-677-3917) and is by the artist Hugo Guinness.

[Kristina]

Oh, but where did you get the Frenchie picture? My family has a most beloved Frenchie, and I would love to find a copy of that picture.

[lizzy]

i have some of my grandmother's artwork as well. i'm an artist myself, and its nice thinking that maybe its heriditary. her art is mostly pencil drawings of her horses and dogs, something i find especially beautiful as i am an animal lover as well. they are done portrait style with the animal's name written below, and are in their original frames from the 40's and 50's. having never met her, its nice to see that we have these things in common.

[Beverly Hamilton]

I am a 72yr old great grandmother Portrait Artist. After raising 5 daughters, and helping with the 11 grandchildren, + some greats. I have tried to get back to painting more. I want to leave more of my art with my children. I just finished painting an 18x24 Oil of our wedding picture, and our daughter Teresa printed a photo of it onto our invitation for our 50th, since we will be married 50 years Sept. 14.
We married in CA, in a double wedding ceremony with my cousin Georgia, who also married a Jim. Their celebration is also Sept. 15. They wanted us to come to CA to celebrate with them, but we wanted to celebrate with our children, and couldn't afford the trip for everyone.
If you would like to view my art work, you can go to
geocities.com/portraitartbybeverly
to see my most recent wedding portrait
e-mail: beverly.hamilton@yahoo.com

[Michele Morgan]

I can relate! My mother and aunt were terrific artists, not quite as prolific as your grandmother. I love the diversity of her subject matter and styles. Currently with my own art I've stretched further than I normally felt comfortable - all because I made some happy mistakes. Now I'm on such a passionate path with my art. I'm having a blast. Thanks for sharing.
www.colorthemes.com

[Dave Conrey]

This story is so coincidental, I'd almost chalk it up to kismet. Just this past weekend, I was hanging out with my wife and my mom at her Palm Desert home where she has some of my late grandmother's art on the wall. There are 3 pieces, all depicting scenes from the Mojave Desert, and each one was exceptional in it's style and execution. Being an artistic family, it isn't surprising that she was that good even after just one art class. What blew my mind was that she never pursued it. She could have been huge, but family took precedence. I don't think she knew the value of her work. My mom told me that she found one of the pieces stuck away in the garage with an old yard sale sticker on it for $.25. It's a shame she felt so little of her work, but I'm glad that she didn't sell the pieces. They hang in my mom's house now, but they'll be mine someday! I'll hang them near my mom's art... and mine.

[Robyn]

I have a similar experience. My great grandmother is a very talented artist and I'm glad that my mom (her granddaughter) has taken the initiative to hang her paintings in her house. You can't go into one room in the house without seeing a painting by my great grandmother. My own grandmother (her daughter) was about to sell one of her pieces and my mother wouldn't let her and snapped it up and hung it over her bed. I'm glad that my mother has held on to these treasures, because they day that we don't have my great grandmother in our presence we'll still have her art hanging on our walls. We're lucky to have such a talented person in our family. I only hope that one day I can give back that way to my own family.

[Sarah]

Those painting are lovely. It's funny because I remember as a little girl playing on my grandmothers stairwell. One of the pictures my great grandma-ma painted was a little girl holding her teddy bear who happened to be my mother when she was 3 years old.

My father made a cedar chest in his wood shop class he took in college. He passed it down to me when I was in high school. Right now my husband and I live in too small of an apartment to have it at the foot of our bed, but we are currently house hunting so hopefully I'll put it to good use again soon.

I'm planning on starting my own heirlooms.

My mother gave me her diamond in her wedding ring just recently. It's been on my mothers side of the family for over 100 years. I have a solitaire diamond necklace my husband gave me so I have no need for another. I don't really want to wear another diamond ring, so I came up with a fun idea that I can pass down to my children...

My necklace my husband gave me is a princess cut. My wedding ring diamonds and the diamond my mother gave me are round cut. I decided to make my mothers diamond my new solitaire necklace that way if I get some round earrings the whole set matches. Then I can pass this down to my daughter or grand daughter so it stays in the family.

Now I've always been a fan of lockets. I decided to set my old solitaire diamond (which was a princes cut and a smaller diamond then my mothers) in a locket, and then keep a picture of my husband inside. Then if I have a son or grandson who is getting married, I can pass that heirloom down to him to give to his wife and she can keep a picture of my son or grandson inside.

This way I have an heirloom for both son and daughter some day.

[Kate]

Wow, those are beautiful! You're very lucky.

I have a small oil painting by my grandfather, who is a talented painter. He teaches classes and has started doing shows in the last 5 years or so, in his mid-70s. When I got married he and my grandmother asked what I wanted, and I said I wanted one of his paintings--they gave me a few to choose from and I picked one of a chinese vase with some lemons. It looks very Dutch. He also paints lovely landscapes, and I hope to one day get some bigger pieces. I love to paint but don't have any training, and I'd love to take classes with him!

My other favorite heirloom comes from my grandmother. She gave me a hand-embroidered silk handkerchief that her grandmother, her mother and she had carried in their weddings, and I used it as my "something old."