Photo/Illutration The front page of a picture book of landscape paintings drawn by Grandma Moses (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

During my stint in the United States, there were paintings I often noticed in the homes of elderly people I interviewed.

They were works by Anna May Robertson Moses (1860-1961), better known as Grandma Moses.

Driven by nostalgia, I recently visited Tokyo's Setagaya Art Museum, where "Grandma Moses: A Retrospective Exhibition" is showing until Feb. 27.

On display were paintings of scenes of rural life, with subjects including a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, sledding down a snowy hill and tapping maple sap.

Her signature idyllic style was fully evident even in her depictions of storms and wildfires. Just looking at her paintings makes one feel mellow.

Surprisingly, she did not pick up a paintbrush until she was 75. She had lost her husband and second daughter and developed debilitating arthritis, which forced her to give up her hobby of embroidery.

She was 80 when she held her first exhibition.

Her popularity soared. She was invited to the White House by President Harry S. Truman and she made the cover of Life magazine.

"She was not recognized by the mainstream art community, but her style captured people’s hearts for evoking what felt like the essence of American life," explained Nozomi Endo, a curator at the Setagaya Art Museum.

Her fame did not change her simple lifestyle. She never had an art studio. She worked on a small table in her kitchen until her death at 101.

Walking around the exhibition hall, I thought about the ages at which famous people, past and present, achieved their greatest feats.

Surveyor and cartographer Tadataka Ino (1745-1818) was 55 when he set out on his travels around the nation to complete his surveying journey for maps of Japan in his 70s.

Neo-Confucianist philosopher Ekiken Kaibara (1630-1714) was said to have become a full-time author at 70 and was 83 when he published his seminal work "Yojokun" (The Book of Life-nourishing Principles).

Living in this era of longevity, or the "100-year life," we all feel intimidated by the thought of prolonged old age.

I can't draw, nor will I ever become a traveling cartographer. Still, I hope to find something I can be passionate about in my life after retirement.

But no, I wouldn't be so ambitious as to expect an invitation card from the White House.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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