Alistair Grant

Alistair Grant

1925 - 1997

Born 1925 in Kensington, London; Died. 1997 in London

Artist and printmaker. Also an influential art teacher.

He is considered by many as a ground breaker in his explorations of mixed media techniques.

Alistair Grant studied at Birmingham School of Art under H. H. Holden and Fleetwood-Walker (1941-43). During the Second World War he served as Aircrew, part of the Royal Air Force (1943-47). Shortly after the war Grant immediately returned to arts education and attended the Royal College of Art, Painting School between 1947 and 1950. After completing his arts education, Grant secured early teaching positions at a number of art cchools. Between 1951 and 1953 he taught at St Martin's School of Art, Hammersmith School of Art, Sidcup School of Art, and Colchester School of Art. He then progressed onto the Royal College of Art, where he had been a student, which is the institution that Grant is most associated. In total he was a member of staff at the Royal College of Art between 1955 and 1990, securing positions as Tutor in Printmaking Department (1955-70), Head of Printmaking Department (1970-90), Chair Printmaking Department (1984), and Professor Emeritus of Printmaking (1984-90).

Grant is best known for his work as a printmaker, although he considered himself first and foremost a painter. His paintings display a competency towards an openly expressionist styl (particularly those during the early 1980s. This is clear in their use of sweeping brushstrokes and vibrant colours inspired by the Normandy coastline; a place where he spent much of his childhood and also his later years.

One-man exhibitions included those at the Zwemmer Gallery; Piccadilly Gallery; A.I.A. Gallery; Ashgate Gallery; Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford; Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham; Balclutha Gallery; Ware Gallery, London; 46 Gallery, Edinburgh.

Grant's artworks, and in particular editions of his many prints which span a career of nearly fifty years, are held by national and regional collections across the globe.

Benjamin Angwin - March 2015