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Gordon Grant (artist)

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Gordon Grant
Born1875
Died1962
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArtist

Gordon Hope Grant was a noted American artist, well-known for his maritime watercolors, and his work with the American Boy Scouts. He was born in San Francisco in 1875, and died in 1962.[1][2][3]

His best known work is likely his watercolor of the USS Constitution.[4] He also produced war time posters during WW I, and illustrations for books such as Penrod,[5] and magazine covers for periodicals such as Saturday Evening Post[6] and illustrations for Boys' Life.[7] He was the cover designer for the first edition of the Boy Scout Handbook in 1911 (The 1910 edition was a stopgap blending "Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys that had been published in England in 1908 and his (Seton's) own Birch Bark Roll used by the Woodcraft Indians ").[8]

He was illustrator for The Story of American Sailing Ships by Charles S. Strong, The Scarlet Plague by Jack London, Eternal Sea: An Anthology of Sea Poetry edited by William Martin Williamson and many other works.[9]

He was a member of the Association of American Artists and many of his prints were sold through it.[10]

His brother, Douglas Grant was also a watercolorist, and his nephews include Gordon Kenneth Grant (1908–1940), an artist who painted the murals in the Ventura, California post office,[11] and Campbell Grant (born 1909). Campbell Grant is heard in several Walt Disney films, and is credited with some of the story development for Fantasia (1940), character development in Pinocchio (1940), and illustrated a book on the Chumash Indians of Channing Peak.[12]

References

  1. ^ Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs; E. Bénézit, Librairie Gründ 1976, Volume 5 page 168. (This source lists his death as 1960 and lists him as a member of the Salmagundi Club
  2. ^ JVJ Publishing Illustrators: Gordon Grant
  3. ^ CaliforniaWatercolor.com Gordon Grant Biography; citing Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940", American Art Annual 1905-33; Who's Who in American Art 1936-62; Oakland Tribune & NY Times, 5-8-1962 (obits)
  4. ^ "1920s Restoration Souvenirs". ussconstitutionmuseum.org.
  5. ^ Tarkington, Booth; Grant, Gordon (18 February 2019). Penrod; his complete story. Illustrated by Gordon Grant. OCLC 639691191.
  6. ^ Covers of the Saturday Evening Post: Seventy Years of Outstanding Illustration from America's Favorite Magazine Jan Cohn; Viking, 1995
  7. ^ "The End of the Dolly D illustrated by Gordon Grant
  8. ^ Collecting Scouting Handbooks The ISCA Getting Started Collecting Series "The first Handbook for Boys officially developed by the BSA was printed in 1911. The cover drawing of a Boy Scout waving his hat inviting others to join him in Scouting was done by Gordon Grant"
  9. ^ American Fiction, 1901-1925: A Bibliography by Geoffrey D. Smith; Cambridge University Press, 1997, ISBN 0521434696
  10. ^ "The Smart Collector", Sun-Sentinel, February 6, 2005; BY DANIELLE ARNET "According to Newman, "Grant was AAAs best-selling artist in the '30s and '40s. They published more than 100 different prints by the artist in an edition of not less than 250 each.""
  11. ^ ExperiencingLA.com Work in Ventura: Gordon Grant WPA Murals
  12. ^ Oral history interview with Campbell Grant, 1965 June 4 Archives of American Art] "one of my paternal uncles was Gordon Grant, the marine painter", " His younger brother, Douglas, was also quite a competent water colorist."