James Arden Grant (1885-1973) - Pastel Portrait of a Young Girl

Description

A charming portrait of a young girl with short cropped hair seated in a red chair. The artist captures her features and ruffled dress in expressive pastel markings, bringing vibrancy and movement to the composition. Artist name inscribed to to the label verso. Presented in a gilt frame. On paper.

Condition

The condition is typical for a picture of this age including some discolouration.

Size

60 x 46cm (23.6" x 18.1")
Framed Size: 77 x 62.5cm (30.3" x 24.6")

Artist Biography

James Arden Grant was a painter and printmaker who was born in Liverpool the son of a bootmaker. He attended Liverpool School of Art where his teachers included Fred Burridge. He progressed to the Académie Julian in Paris and then to London and the Central School of Arts & Crafts. He relocated to London in 1913 where he became the Vice-Principal of the Central School having previously taught at his alma mater in Liverpool.

During the period 1921-1924, he rented premises in the Stamford Bridge Studios. During the 1940's he painted a portrait of John Whitehead a miner at Billingham, for an advertising campaign for ICI which featured portraits of workers in industry. These appeared as a series of advertisements in the press in Great Britain between September 1944 and March 1946.

Grant was a member of the Art Workers' Guild and exhibited at Abbey Gallery, Chenil Gallery, International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers, Leicester Galleries, New English Art Club, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Academy, Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal Scottish Academy, MAFA, Walker Art Gallery, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and the Royal Hibernian Academy in Edinburgh. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1928 and a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1931. Works by Grant are in the collection of the BC and NML. He died in London.