Экзаменационный (типовой) материал ОГЭ / Английский / 13-19 задание (24) / 81

         There once lived a woman named Anna Mary Robertson Moses. She was born in 1860 in a small town in the state of New York. Her family was very poor. She never studied anywhere, married a poor man, raised five children, and worked hard on a farm all her life.
         At the age of 67, she was too old to continue working on her farm, and quickly found a hobby – embroidery. However, even that became too difficult when she turned 77. Anna Moses was suffering from arthritis, which made it painful to hold a needle.
         But this didn’t stop Anna. At the age of 78, she began to paint. She painted scenes of village life from her childhood. She gave her paintings to friends, one of whom was a local pharmacist. He put her colourful gifts in the windows of his drugstore for all passers-by to see. In 1938, an art collector from New York was passing by that drugstore. His name was Louis Caldor. He couldn’t understand what it was in the paintings in the drug store windows that touched his heart, but he knew he wanted them all. Caldor not only bought all the pictures from the surprised pharmacist but also became good friends with Anna. He decided that the work of this provincial old lady artist had to be known to the public.
         After two years of no success, finally, three of Anna’s paintings were included in
New York’s Museum of Modern Art exhibition “Contemporary Unknown American Painters”, and the next year, in 1940, she had her first solo exhibition “What a Farm Wife Painted”. It was about that time that she received the nickname “Grandma Moses” from a reviewer at New York’s newspaper Herald Tribune. From that time onwards, Grandma Moses’ fame grew fast. She was invited to come to New York and speak at a press conference, which she did. It was a true sensation – people fell in love with this small charming old lady who had lively eyes and wore a simple black dress and a Victorian hat. Grandma Moses became a superstar.
         Cinderella-like stories of young girls who made their way from poverty to the heights of wealth and fame have always touched the hearts of millions. But Grandma Moses broke all records – fame came to her when she was 80 years old!

         For the next 10 years, her paintings travelled all over the US, Europe, and even Japan.
         In 1949, US President Harry Truman presented the now famous painter with Women's National Press Club Award. When she turned 88, Mademoiselle magazine named her a “Young Woman of the Year”. In 1960, her 100th birthday was celebrated almost like a national holiday and was declared “Grandma Moses Day” by New York’s governor, Nelson Rockefeller. Grandma Moses died several months after her 101st birthday, on December 3, 1961. She was active until her last day and left behind more than 1,600 paintings.

13. Anna Moses enjoyed painting all her life.

1) True
2) False
3) Not stated