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Forgotten Dreams: The Paintings
of Edward Grant
November 5, 2008 - February 22,
2009
Forgotten Dreams rediscovers the beauty of the Delmarva Peninsula and reintroduces
the work of a local arts hero. This exhibition features never-before 
seen works by a forgotten master painter, Edward Grant.
Born in 1913 in Wilmington's 40-Acre section, Edward Grant studied with
some of the state's most significant painters including: N.C. Wyeth, Frank
Schoonover and Henryette Stadelman Whiteside. His painting career spanned
an astounding 70 years and a wide variety of artistic styles including illustration,
murals, Social Realism, Photo Realism, and Abstraction. After a 20-year
career with Hercules, Grant retired to the Eastern Shore of Maryland where
he continued his life-long love of painting the Delmarva Scene and teaching
art classes. (right: Edward Grant, House on the Shore, 1981,
oil on canvas)
Forgotten Dreams features the artist's personal collection
from his Maryland studio. Presented in a comprehensive format, the exhibition
displays a diverse array of the varied techniques and styles Grant utilized.
Edward Grant received very little direct attention in the local news; he
exhibited infrequently and has never been extensively published. He was
to the simplest extent passionate for painting.
Upcoming Event
- Forgotten Dreams: The Paintings of Edward Grant Lecture Series with Robert Cozzolino
- Saturday, January 24, 2009
- Attend the second installment of the Edward Grant Lecture
series with Robert Cozzolino to learn more on American Regionalism. Reservations
Required.
-
Edward Grant: Biographical Sketch
1907-1930
Edward L. Grant was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1907.
He grew up in Wilmington's 40 Acre Section attending public school #13 and
graduating from Wilmington High School. He began his formal art education
with two years at he School of Industrial Arts in Philadelphia. Here he
studied under instructors such as Thorton Oakley, a former student of Howard
Pyle. In 1928 he enrolled as a student and part-time instructor in the newly
opened Wilmington Academy of Art. His fellow students included Ellen Pyle
and Anne Dickey Warner, both former students of the Philadelphia Academy
and Brandt Alexander, John Moll, Les Reinhartand and Sev Laskowski, his
fellow students at the Industrial. Miss Henrietta Stadelman was the school
founder and director. The staff included Charles Ryan, Ellen Meeds, Ida
E. McFarlane, Gayle Hoskins, Frank Schoonover, N.C. Wyeth, Douglas Duer
and Eads Collins with occasional lectures by Harvey Dunn and Charles Hawthorne.
Completing his studies in 1930, he was awarded the first European scholarship
given by the school.
1931-1935
After returning from his European studies, Grant shared
a rented studio with Brandt Alexander at Shallcross Avenue and Rodney Street
in Wilmington. Here Ed painted, worked as a freelance illustrator and continued
to teach at te Wilmington Academy of art. Grant and Brandt also worked as
assistants to Frank Schoonover and Gayle Hoskins, successful illustrators
with studio spaces nearby. During this period, Grant began friendships with
Harvey Dunn and Stanley Arthurs, both former students of Howard Pyle and
successful illustrators and painters. He also became friends with Walter
Pyle, brother of his classmate Ellen Pyle, and the Pyle's mother, also named
Ellen, a successful children's book illustrator for the likes of the Saturday
Evening Post. Through the Pyle family, Grant became friends with N.C.
Wyeth whose attitude advocating a creative lifestyle strongly influenced
Edward Grant.
1936-1942
Edward Grant was heavily involved in the Delaware art scene.
He taught at the Wilmington Academy of the Art and the Studio Group and
was active with Arts Club, serving as President in 1937. He was one of the
original signers of the Rehoboth Art League's "Doors of Fame"
in 1938. He was supervisor for the WPA/FAP mural program in Delaware and
painted murals throughout the State and region. In 1938 he married Harriet
Barkley and moved to a house on Marsh Road north of Arden, an artist colony
north of Wilmington. During these years, the couple spent their summers
in Round Pond, Maine where Grant continued to develop his distinctive style
of painting. In 1941, their only child, Alex, was born.
1942-1968
In the war years, with a family to support, Edward Grant
accepted full-time employment as Art Director of Hercules Powder Company,
in Wilmington, which had been on of his principal clients as a freelance
illustrator. During his years with Heercules, Grant continued to develop
his own artistic style, to teach art classes, and to compete and sell works
regularly. He served n the Board of Directors of the Wilmington Society
of Fine Art and was Treasurer of the organization in the 1960s. He remained
at Hercules until his retirement in 1968.
1969-1998
After his retirement and in the last 30 years of his life,
Edward Grant created some of his finest and most developed expressions of
his artistic style. He moved to the town of Neavitt on Maryland's Eastern
Shore and used this location as base to roam the tidewater country of Maryland,
Delaware, Virginia and North Carolina for unique sources of material for
his art. Upon entering the Eastern Shore culture, he became active with
the Easton Academy of Art (now the Art Academy Museum) where he taught classes.
He served as Academy President from 1971 to 1973 and was responsible for
establishing the Academy's first paid employee, a curator. Grant was also
an active volunteer at the Maritime Museum in St. Michaels and in teaching
art classes at the St. Michaels High School.
(above: Edward Grant, Untitled, n.d., relief print)
(above: Edward Grant, Untitled, probably 1950s, oil
on canvas)
(above: Edward Grant, Untitled, 1969, watercolor on paper)
Label text from the exhibition
-
- Early Education
- 1907-1930
- A Home in Wilmington
-
-
- Untitled (map of Wilmington), c. 1920
- pen and ink
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
- Childhood in the Wilmington's 40 Acre Section
-
- Professional Artist
- 1930-1942
- Early Influences and Mentors
- Traveling Abroad?
- Art Educator for the State
- What is Social Realism?
- Edward Grant and the Works Progress Administration
- Federal Arts Project
-
- Industrial Arts
- c.1935-1968
- Contract Work and Hercules
- Traveling in Country
- Family
-
- Documentation
- 1968-1969
-
- Artist's Studio
- 1969-1998
- Art Therapy
- Relocating to Neavitt, Maryland St. Michaels The Academy
-
- Clothesline Show
- 1936-1959
- Exhibiting Art in Delaware
- Clothesline Show
- UD and Delaware Art Museum
-
-
- Focus On: Still Life
-
- B&O R.R. Station in Snow (n.d.)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Melting Snow (n.d.)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Rehoboth (1945)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (farm scene) (1930s)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (dead tree) (1930s)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (Wilmington street scene) (1948)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (Wilmington street scene) (1948)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (shanty town) (1930s)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of Aerie Art Gallery,
- Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
-
- Untitled (shanty town) (1930s)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of William F. Richardson
-
- Boat Board (1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Near Crisfield (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Salt Water Farm (1970s)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (post and nail) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (sign) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (stump) (1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat and red building) (1973)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat on yellow) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat on purple) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (wreck with water) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat with water) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (fantail) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (Captain Snapi's buy boat) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (Captain Snapi's buy boat) (c. 1969)
- oil on canvas
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat with tug) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (broken boat) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (broken boat) (c. 1969)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Work Boat on Upper Choptank (1977)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Scouts (c. 1935)
- oil on canvas
- Courtesy of Biggs Museum of American Art
-
- Self Portrait (n.d.)
- pen and ink
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (cowboy) (c. 1930)
- pen and ink
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (study) (early 1930s)
- oil on canvas
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (study) (early 1930s)
- oil on canvas
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (study) (1920s)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (illustration) (n.d.)
- watercolor and gouache on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (study) (1920s)
- graphite, crayon on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Family Picnic at the Beach (1941-2)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Harriett (1937)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Alex (1957)
- watercolor on paper
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (five guys) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (house on hill) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (man at shore) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (fruit seller) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (genie) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (saint) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (industrial landscape) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (covered bridge) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (barn and wagon) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat at pier) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (street scene) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (barn) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (village) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-
- Untitled (boat on water) (n.d.)
- relief print
- Courtesy of E. Alex and Alicia S. Grant
-