Miscellaneous Services

Grandma Moses Properties/Galerie St. Etienne provides a variety of services in connection with our representation of Grandma Moses.

Exhibition Organization

We periodically mount Grandma Moses exhibitions on our own premises, process the loan of the artist's work to group exhibitions at qualified venues, and organize one-woman shows for museums and other institutions. If you would like to inquire about upcoming exhibitions or about borrowing Moses' work for an exhibition, please contact us at gallery@gseart.com.

The Galerie St. Etienne will guest curate Grandma Moses exhibitions according to the specifications provided by the host venue(s). Costs vary according to the scope of the project.

Grandma Moses' work is presently scheduled to appear at the following venues in the next months:

• The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art,
  Moses in the 21st Century, Oct. 3, 2003 - Feb. 2, 2004

Licensing of Reproduction Rights

Grandma Moses Properties holds the copyright in all Grandma Moses' work, and controls a number of ancillary trademarks as well as the right to use the artist's name, likeness and writings. Grandma Moses Properties has available a large file of color transparencies, slides and black and white photographs of Moses' work, as well as documentary photographs, which we rent to publishers for reproduction in books and magazines and license for commercial use when appropriate. Grandma Moses Properties has also supervised the adaptaions of the artist's biography for theatrical purposes. Slides may also be borrowed for lecture purposes. If you would like to request transparencies, slides or photographs, please contact us at gallery@gseart.com.

Commercial Products

Over the years, Grandma Moses Properties has licensed the reproduction of the artist's work for a number of commercial products. Products are chosen according to their compatibility with Moses' sensibilities, as well as according to the ability of the reproduction technology to accurately convey the artist's work. Some of the most popular products have been:

• China Plates
• Greeting Cards
• Reproductions Suitable for Framing
• Calendars
• Fabric

Grandma Moses Properties has also licensed the use of the artist's work and writings in connection with film, theatrical, television and dance productions.

Authentications

Otto Kallir, founder of Galerie St. Etienne/Grandma Moses Properties, and Hildegard Bachert, current Co-Director of Galerie St. Etienne/Grandma Moses Properties, compiled the Grandma Moses catalogue raisonné in 1973. With access to the extensive archives amassed as the artist's exclusive representative during her lifetime as well as over 60 years of experience in handling her work, we are recognized world-wide as the experts on Grandma Moses. We are routinely consulted by museums, collectors, dealers and auction houses seeking to authenticate works that are not included in the catalogue raisonné.

If you need help with an authentication, please contact us at gallery@gseart.com. Your initial inquiry should if possible include a photograph of the work, a close-up photo of the signature, a full physical description (medium, support, size), a transcription of any inscriptions, labels, etc., on the front and/or back of the work, and an ownership, exhibition and publication history. We can often give preliminary opinions based on photographs, but you may eventually need to bring or send the work to us for examination. Please, however, contact us for an appointment before doing so!

Buyer Beware!

Grandma Moses was extremely popular during her lifetime, and a great many reproductions of her work have been sold over the past 50 years. Buyers should be careful not to mistake these reproductions for the real thing. Some of the most deceptive reproductions are explained below.

Grandma Moses Tiles
Facsimile reproductions of actual tiles painted by Grandma Moses, manufactured by Bergreen-Shelton-Traynor in 1953 and subsequently reproduced on greeting cards by Hallmark. Note that all the original Moses tiles are housed in the Grandma Moses Properties Archive.

Silk-screen reproduction of The Old Oaken Bucket
Published by the New York Graphic Society around 1946, this reproduction is especially deceptive because the thick silk-screen ink is reminiscent of oil paint.

Grandma Moses Drapery Fabric
Between 1950 and 1967, the Riverdale Fabric Company manufactured drapery fabric depicting a number of Grandma Moses tiles and paintings, including Early Springtime on the Farm, Willaimstown, Sugaring Off in Maple Orchard, Halloween, Childhood Home of Grandma Moses, Deep Snow, The Checkered House, Harvest Time, At the Well, and Covered Bridge with Carriage (under the title "Eagle Bridge"). Subsequently, pieces of this fabric were often cut out and mounted in a manner resembling paintings.

Reproductions on Paper
Countless Grandma Moses reproductions of varying sizes, including greeting cards, have been published over the years. The fact that the signature is reproduced along with the rest of the image does not mean that these reproductions are "signed." Only four images, The Old Oaken Bucket, Sugaring Off, The Old Checkered House and Out for Christmas Trees, were ever issued in editions hand-signed by the artist. In the case of these signed reproductions, the signature, in pen, appears in the margin below the image.