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Duncan Grant

Duncan grant

Duncan grant

Duncan Grant was born in Scotland in 1893 and spent his childhood in India, where his father served in the British Army. Rather than follow his father’s career path, he took up painting and studied at the Westminster School of Art. As a young man, Grant also spent time in France with artists such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. He became a founding member of the Bloomsbury Group - a collective of influential artists, writers and philosophers. Members of this group included famous authors such as Virgina Woolf and E. M. Forster.

Several of the Bloomsbury Group lived together at a house in Sussex called Charleston. They treated the house like a canvas, decorating each room and turning simple furniture into works of art! During the First World War, Duncan Grant became what was known as a conscientious objector. This meant that because he was a pacifist and didn’t want to fight, Grant was allowed to help the war effort by growing fruit and vegetables at Charleston. 

Did you know…?

During the Blitz St Paul’s Cathedral was hit by a total of 28 bombs, but somehow survived.

Despite his opposition to the military, Grant was asked to create two paintings by the War Artists' Advisory Committee during the Second World War. This committee was set up by the British government to keep a detailed artistic record of the war. The most famous is an image of St Paul’s Cathedral during the 1941 London Blitz.  It shows the Cathedral rising into the sky, while workers clear a building that has recently been bombed. The building became a symbol of Britain’s endurance. A memorial service was held for Duncan Grant at St. Paul’s following his death in 1978. 

© IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1844)

© IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1844)