James Edward Grant (May 25, 1924 – August 14, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor active from the late 1950s into the early 1970s. Best known for his sculptural work in
plastics, this work by no means defined him but was rather a natural endpoint of an exploration into increased dimensionality—starting from abstract canvases, moving through collages and bas-reliefs until the work finally came off the wall in sculptural form.
Upon returning to the United States in 1962, Grant settled in
San Francisco, where his collage work continued. In 1963 he had a solo exhibition at the
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. During the 1960s, he showed regularly at galleries and museums both in the Bay Area (Hansen Gallery) and New York (
Bertha Schaefer Gallery and
Grand Central Moderns).
In the mid 1960s, his collages began to include
polyester resin which he applied in a painterly fashion to the canvas. Soon he began to cast the resin into large, textured bas-reliefs. His plastic work culminated in the development of large cast resin freestanding sculptures of geometric disks, tall spikes and subtly curved shapes which were highly polished. In 1970, he had a retrospective at
Mills College in
Oakland, California documenting his transition in style from abstract canvases to collages to bas-reliefs and finally the freestanding sculptures. In the 1970s, he worked on several commissioned works, many incorporating unique plastic and glass materials.
Later life and death
Untitled Target, Polyester Resin, c. 1969
After a break from art during the late 1970s, Grant returned to painting in the early 1980s at his studio in
Stinson Beach, California producing small watercolors that were cut into squares and reassembled into grids. He then took this format to a large scale, painting acrylic canvases which were also cut into squares and reassembled in works ranging from four to eight feet. This work continued into the 1990s.
Grant died in Stinson Beach in August 1997. When the new Stinson Beach branch library opened in 1999, the opening show was of Grant's work.[3] The art exhibit wall is named in his honor.[4]
Exhibitions
Bold entries denote solo exhibitions.
2008 de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, CA, Selections from the Anderson Collection: The 1960s
2004 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, San Francisco and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection of Abstract Expressionism
1995 Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA, A Bay Area Connection: Works from the Anderson Collection[5]
1972 Triangle Gallery, San Francisco
1971 University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture
1971 Stanford Art Gallery, Palo Alto, CA, West Coast Art
1971 Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA, Pierres de Fantasie
1970 Mills College Art Gallery
1970 Berkeley Art Gallery
1970 Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, Looking West
1969 Seligman Gallery, Seattle, WA
1969 University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture
1969 Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, PA, Plastics: New Art