Printmakers You Should Know: Blanche C. Grant

As Curator at the Roswell Museum, I'm always looking ahead when it comes to exhibitions. Shows sneak up on you faster than you think, so the sooner you can get going on them, the better. One installation I'm researching now looks at women printmakers of New Mexico, and one of the artists I'm thinking of including is the printmaker we're looking at today: Blanche C. Grant (1874-1948.

Olive Rush, Blanche C. Grant, and Edith Pennewell in the studio of Howard Pyle, ca. 1911. Image courtesy of http://womenoutwest.blogspot.com/2016/02/blanche-chloe-grant-painter-muralist.html

Blanche C. Grant was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, and received a prestigious education studying at Vassar College, the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, and the Art Students League in New York. Among her teachers was Howard Pyle, widely considered the "father" of American illustration and the teacher of N.C. Wyeth. She first made her artistic reputation as an illustrator and landscape painter in Wilmington, Delaware, where Pyle and the Wyeths were professionally based. From 1916-1920 she held an associate professorship at the University of Nebraska.

Blanche C. Grant, The Saddle Blanket, 1923, oil on canvas, image courtesy of http://collections.harwoodmuseum.org/view/objects/asimages/People@1325?t:state:flow=7078e108-dca8-485d-921c-ffd0456a8f85

Grant first visited New Mexico in 1920 while on vacation, becoming acquainted with the Taos Art Colony. She liked it so well that she settled there permanently. As a painter, she focused on Native American subjects, and several of her works can be found at the Harwood Museum of Art today. She also painted murals for the New Mexico Technical University in Socorro and the Taos Presbyterian Church, although they are no longer extant.

Blanche C. Grant, Untitled (Taos Pueblo Church), 1920s, oil on board. Image courtesy of http://collections.harwoodmuseum.org/view/objects/asitem/People@1325/3/title-asc;jsessionid=5260388E4E3A605C53DA5EF3659AC01E?t:state:flow=7389a1f6-7288-47d4-8788-740f6908f383

In addition to her painting, Grant was a writer and historian. She was editor of the Taos Valley News, and became an expert on the history and ethnology of the region. She wrote several books on the Taos area, including The Taos Indians and When the Old Trails Were New.

Image courtesy of https://www.abebooks.com/9780873801126/Taos-Indians-Blanche-C-Grant-0873801121/plp

Image courtesy of https://www.abebooks.com/9781199534408/When-old-trails-new-story-1199534404/plp

As with her paintings and writing, Grant focused on New Mexico subjects in her printmaking, particularly the lives and rituals of Native Americans. This lithograph takes a closer look at the art of drying chili peppers, which is a very New Mexican thing to do. Spend any time in the state and you're bound to run into a ristra sooner or later.

Blanche C. Grant, Pepper Time in New Mexico, 1937, lithograph. Image courtesy of http://chimayotrading.com/portfolio/3507-bg-1/

As is the case with so many New Mexico artists, I first learned about Grant through the Roswell Museum collection, and more specifically through this print:

Blanche C. Grant, Christmas Eve at Taos Pueblo, 1937, lithograph. Image courtesy of RMAC.

We've also got a painting of hers in the collection. I don't know who the model is, but this work has always intrigued me:

Blanche C. Grant, Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1930-1940, oil on canvas on plywood panel. Image courtesy of RMAC.

I've commented on this before, but the early twentieth century in New Mexico was a fascinating time for women artists. It was rough around the edges, lacking electricity, paved roads and other conveniences, but it was also a town full of great artists looking to try something new. If you were willing to go without modern luxuries, you could make some really worthwhile art.

Learn more here:

http://chimayotrading.com/artists/blanche-c-grant/

http://womenoutwest.blogspot.com/2016/02/blanche-chloe-grant-painter-muralist.html