阅读理解。
Of all the folk artists in the United States the best known of the twentieth century is certainly Grandma
Moses--Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860-1961). She was also the most successful within her lifetime
and her work was reproduced on greeting cards and in prints. As with many folk artists, her career as a
painter started late in life, at the age of 67, but she continued painting until her death at the age of 10l, so
her active painting life still lasted over 34 years.
Her subjects are based on the New England countryside. Many of her early paintings are copies of, or
use sections from, prints by Currier and Ives that she then recreated in her own way. In her paintings the
figures became more stylized and the landscapes less naturalistic. Her painting was preceded (优先) by the
production of landscapes in needlework. The images, however, continued the same, and she remade some
of her needlework landscapes in paint at a later date.
From these early sources she began to compose original paintings such as Housick Falls, New York in
Winter (1944) that relied on her surroundings and her memories of country life and activities; these paintings
show her increasing technical ability. By the 1940's her work had become a marketable commodity and
collectors created a demand for her paintings.
Like many painters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Grandma Moses made use of photographs
for information, for figures, for landscapes, and for buildings, but her work, especially that of her later years,
was not a simple copying of these but compositions using them as source material. Her output was amazing,
and consequently her work is of varying quality. Her paintings place her among the top folk painters of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
1. What is the main topic of the passage?
A. The painting materials used by Grandma Moses.
B. The major artistic influences on Grandma Moses.
C. The folk art of Grandma Moses.
D. The life of Grandma Moses.
2. According to the passage, Grandma Moses started her painting career ____.
A. without much success
B. in her sixties
C. after much study
D. by producing greeting cards
3. Why does the author mention Currier and Ives in the second paragraph?
A. They are folk artists.
B. They collected many of Grandma Moses' paintings.
C. They made calendars from Grandma Moses' landscapes.
D. Grandma Moses based some paintings on their work.
4. According to the passage, Grandma Moses switched (转变) from needlework to painting because of ____.
A. her desire to create landscapes
B. the public's interest in painting
C. her need to make money
D. a physical condition that affected her