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Biografisk notat
Karal Ann Marling is Professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota.To most Americans [Grandma Mosesâs] art was real art, the genuine, accessible thing, as opposed to the Abstract Expressionist painting being promoted in certain quarters as the internationalist face of American culture in the 1950âs. Itâs a little startling to revisit the art wars waged in the popular press of that era, as one can do in <i>Designs on the Heart</i>⌠Public battles over âhighbrowâ versus âlowbrowâ had a heated, personal urgency rarely inspired by art today.
- Holland Cotter, New York Times
Asking Karal Ann Marling to write a catalogue for a museum exhibitionâŚis a little like asking Jamie Oliver to fix a snack. That you will get anything less than a feast is unimaginable⌠Marling [is] a stunningly astute observer of American visual culture⌠Like the best works of cultural criticism, <i>Designs on the Heart</i> will leave the reader saying âOf course! How could I not have thought of this before, itâs so self-evidently true? And yet, I would never have asked these questions or connected these dots myself.â And, like the best works of historical scholarship, it will leave readers asking new questions about our own cultural icons.
- Lauren F. Winner, Books & Culture
Delightful. Marlingâs book is neither a straight biography nor a coffeetable picture book. Rather, it is an affectionate analysis of the âGrandmaâ phenomenon, albeit laced with plenty of photos, biographical stories and images of Mosesâ art.
- Mary Abbe, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
In <i>Designs on the Heart: The Homemade Art of Grandma Moses</i>, Karal Ann Marling sets out to explain Grandma Mosesâ continuing status as an American icon and her artâs eternal popularity. The book contains photos of Moses and her environs, as well as plenty of color plates of her work.
- Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch
How Grandma Moses was discovered in the village of Hoosick Falls, New York, and how she went on to become a worldwide cultural phenomenon are questions answered in an extraordinary and compelling story revealed in Karal Ann Marlingâs new book, <i>Designs on the Heart: The Homemade Art of Grandma Moses</i>.
- Peter McLaughlin, Berkshire Living
Karal Ann Marling has long provided astute and sympathetic commentary on diverse facets of American popular culture. <i>Designs on the Heart</i> continues in this vein: a great read full of interesting insights about an American artist that we all really âknowâ but really donât know much about. Grandma Moses remains an icon of American art today, and Karal Ann Marlingâs new book helps explain why.
- Erika Doss, Professor of Art History, University of Colorado, and author of <i>Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs: Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities</i>,
It is no mean feat to recast a national icon in a new light, but Karal Ann Marling manages to do so. Marlingâs text is a provocative delightâlively, insightful, and mercifully free of jargon. It is an important contribution to the appreciation of a singular artistic personality; equally significant, it provides new illumination to a telling episode in American taste. Students of both art history and American Studiesâas well as the legions of Grandma Moses admirersâshould find it a valuable addition to the literature. This is the way art history ought to be written. Another Marling triumph.
- Charles C. Eldredge, Hall Distinguished Professor of American Art and Culture, University of Kansas, and author of <i>Georgia OâKeeffe: American and Modern</i>,
It is a story that has gone down in the annals of American art history: a New Yorker visiting upstate Hoosick Falls is entranced by four pictures hanging in the window of a drugstore. Investigating further, he learns they are the handiwork of a 78-year-old widow. Thus begins the rise to fame of Grandma Mosesâfarmwife, painter, and unlikely celebrity.
In this book Karal Ann Marling, distinguished observer of American visual culture, looks at Grandma Moses as a cultural phenomenon of the postwar period and explores the meaning of her subject matterâand her astonishing fame. What did the âGreatest Generationâ see in her simple renderings of people, young and old, tapping maple trees for syrup, making apple butter, gliding across snowy fields on sleighs? Why did Bob Hope, Irving Berlin, and Harry Truman all love herâand the art czars of New York openly despise her? Through the flood of Moses merchandiseâsplashed across Christmas cards, dishware, yard goods, and gewgaws of every kindâMarling traces the resonances that these âprimitiveâ images struck in an America awkwardly adjusting to a new era of technology, suburbia, and Cold War tensions.
Between the cultural ephemera, folklore, song, and history embedded in Mosesâs paintings and the potent advertising shorthand for Americana that her images rapidly became, this book reveals the widespread longing for the memories, comforts, and small victories of a mythic, intimate American past tapped by the phenomenonâin art and commerce alikeâof Grandma Moses.