The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., will present "Grandma Moses: A Good Day's Work" from November 25, 2025, through July 12, 2026. The exhibition features 88 works by Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses (1860–1961), drawn from the museum's collection, private collections, and public institutions. It repositions Moses as a multidimensional force in American art, exploring her artistic evolution from farmwife to famous artist in Cold War America, and includes photographs, ephemera, and excerpts from her autobiography. The show is organized by Leslie Umberger, senior curator of folk and self-taught art, and former Randall Griffey, with support from curatorial assistant Maria R. Eipert.
This exhibition matters because it reframes Grandma Moses—often reduced to a comforting grandmotherly figure—as a serious, self-taught artist who helped bring folk art to the forefront of American consciousness. By establishing a destination-collection of 33 works by Moses through gifts and pledges from the Kallir family and other donors, the museum becomes a major resource for studying her art and legacy. The show also highlights Moses' experience of seismic historical shifts, from post-Reconstruction Virginia to the civil rights era, and her controversial celebrity status that surpassed that of female artists of her day.