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Gordon K. Grant

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Agriculture and Industries of Ventura

Gordon Kenneth Grant (January 21, 1908 – March 1, 1940) was an American artist. He is best remembered today for his New Deal murals commissioned for the post offices in Brady, Texas,[1] Alhambra, California and Ventura, California.[2]

Life and death

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Born in Oakland, Grant was a graduate of Stanford University.[3] He was a nephew of maritime artist Gordon Grant.[3] His brother Campbell Grant worked for Walt Disney.[4] In the 1930s he worked on murals at Wellesley College and at the Bronx city hall.[5] In 1936 he exhibited paintings in Washington, D.C. on "Indian subjects" including an image of a Hopi eagle dance.[6]

He died in 1940 in a cannon explosion on the Montecito, California estate of George F. Steedman,[3] supposedly accidentally ignited by Grant's lit cigarette.[7] He was working for Steedman as a silversmith.[8] In addition to painting and silversmithing, Gordon was considered an expert on the artwork of Native American tribes of southwestern North America.[8]

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art hosted a retrospective exhibit of his work in 2001.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "See the Murals for Yourself". Austin American-Statesman. 2004-07-25. p. 102. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  2. ^ "Ventura post office Gordon K. Grant mural". 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  3. ^ a b c TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (1940-03-03). "GORDON K. GRANT KILLED; Young Artist Victim of Cannon Explosion in California". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  4. ^ "Oral history interview with Campbell Grant, 1965 June 4 | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". www.aaa.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  5. ^ "Eichheim Will Give Talk". The Morning Press. 1934-01-14. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  6. ^ "Exhibition at Studio House". Evening star. 1936-04-04. p. 17. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  7. ^ "Gordon Kenneth Grant death termed accident". The Los Angeles Times. 1940-03-04. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  8. ^ a b "Explosion Injuries Fatal to Gordon". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1940-03-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  9. ^ "Grant Inspired by Rivera and Native Americans". The Tribune. 2001-06-24. p. 74. Retrieved 2024-05-12.