Gordon Grant

(1875-1962)

If the expression “paint what you know” were to apply to any artist, it certainly does to Gordon Grant. He spent almost five months aboard a square-rigger sailing vessel traveling from his birthplace of San Francisco to Scotland, fueling his lifelong affair with the sea. His work constantly blurred the distinction between fine art and illustration but always reflected accuracy of vessel and depth of knowledge of the sea and her many moods. Residing for some twenty years on Rocky Neck, Gloucester, he focused on the harbor and surroundings in much of his work. My first painting by Grant came from the Grand Central Gallery in 1969 and depicts the legendary Grand Banks schooner Gertrude Theibaud in dock. Grant was equally adept in oil, watercolor, and etchings. I obtained a wonderful watercolor, again from the Grand Central Gallery several years later, which featured a rarely-painted tug boat in Gloucester Harbor. The last piece by the artist depicts a scene that has always intrigued me and so instantly connotes “place”—the building of a wood sailing vessel with the ribs of the hull prominently portrayed. The curves and angles must be correct, or the even the casual observer will sense the artist’s lack of first-hand knowledge. Gordon Grant just simply “gets it right.”