ELIZABETH GRANDIN

"ART DECO WOMAN"

OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED

AMERICAN, DATED 1922

30 X 24 INCHES


Elizabeth Grandin
1889-1970

Born in Hamden, New York in 1889, Elizabeth Grandin was a descendant of one of Hunterdon County's oldest families and became a recognized artist early in the 20th century when few women were acknowledged.

Grandin received her first art instruction as a young child at Miss Dana's School in Morristown. In 1905, she defied her parent's wishes that she attend Vassar College, and instead took up study with William Merritt Chase at his art school in New York City. After a year with Chase she began a long and close relationship of study and friendship with Robert Henri, also in New York. In 1911 she went to Paris, where for the next two years she worked as a member of the Academie Modern under Fauve painter Orthon Friesz and Charles Guerin. The Academie taught Cezanne's method of modeling form through color. The members held exhibitions each spring with most of their work being shown as a group at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.

In 1918 a landmark exhibition of modern art was held at the Penguin on East 15th Street in New York, featuring works by American and European artists including Man Ray, the Zorachs, Stella, Picasso, Leger, Gris, and Gleizes. Out of 151 total exhibitors Grandin was chosen as one out of only 10 women artists included.

In 1925 Grandin and 12 other women formed the New York Society of Women Artists. Most had studied in Paris and some had been members of the Academie Moderne. Grandin also exhibited for many years at the more conservative National Associations of Women Painters and Sculptors, known as the Women's National Academy. In 1934 she was awarded the Eloise Egan landscape prize given for the best landscape in the annual exhibition. Grandin was also an active member of the Society of Independent Artists, The New York No-Jury Exhibition Salons of America, The Whitney Studio Club, The American Art Association the Pen and Brush Club and Midtown Gallery.

She was instrumental in opening and financing the Grandin Library (named after her uncle Daniel Grandin) in Clinton, New Jersey. She also left her estate to the Library Endowment Fund.