Grandma Moses record book
 | This article's factual accuracy is disputed. (June 2024) |
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| Author | Grandma Moses |
|---|---|
Publication date | started in 1941, ended when she died in 1961 |
The Grandma Moses record book is a small book given in 1941 to Grandma Moses by her brother Fred E. Robertson for keeping track of the titles of paintings she made.[1]
According to Otto Kallir, who started cataloguing Grandma Moses paintings himself a few years after she starting recording in this book, the numbering was not always accurate and did not always match the stickers placed on the backs of the paintings themselves, though this was the intention. He was never able to fathom her numbering logic, but his methodical research resulted in a catalog raisonné published in 1973 with 1,316 unique "RB" numbers from her record book, that clearly increase in number.
In 1951 Winona Fisher, Grandma Moses' daughter, took over the tedious work of reconciling the numbers, which resulted in a more accurate match between the data on the stickers and in the record book. The highest "RB" number Otto Kallir recorded in 1973 was 2,211 and considering most of the paintings the artist made before 1941 never had "RB" numbers, then this could possibly mean there is roughly a thousand more paintings by her extant than have been previously supposed. Now and then estate sales include paintings with unmistakably authentic labels on the back that do not match the titles associated with those dates and/or "RB" numbers in the record book or the 1973 catalog. The Galerie St. Etienne solved this problem after the artist's death by issuing "new" catalog numbers in the Otto Kallir cataloguing system that places these newly discovered paintings within the proper context of date painted and subject portrayed.
References[edit]
- ^ Explanation of labels and record book in Otto Kallir's Grandma Moses American Primitive, edition 1947
- Otto Kallir, Grandma Moses American Primitive, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York, 1947
- Otto Kallir, Grandma Moses, Complete edition, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1973
- 175639, Christie's sale May 24, 1990, lot 262 for The Old Oaken Bucket in Summer, which lists the metadata with title, artist signature "Moses" lower right, label on the back dated to the day December 4, 1952, showing matching title and "RB" number 1551, which in turn is listed on page 58 of the Grandma Moses record book as number 1551 according to 1973 catalog number 1060 by Otto Kallir.