Dwinell Grant papers, 1930-1988

Collection Information

Size: 0.8 Linear feet

Summary: The Dwinell Grant papers measure 0.8 linear feet and date from 1930 to 1988. The papers document Grant's career as a painter and filmmaker through awards and certificates, interviews, resumes, and other biographical material; correspondence with friends, colleagues, and art institutions; manuscripts and other writings; business records with Olympia Gallery and Martin Diamond Fine Arts and Graham Gallery; and brochures, exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, and other printed material.

Biographical/Historical Note

Dwinell Grant (1912-1991) was a painter and filmmaker in Pennsylvania. Grant was born and raised in Ohio. He received early art training from his grandfather, Paul E. Henking, and also studied at the Dayton Art Institute and the National Academy of Design. In 1935, he began teaching at Wittenberg College in Ohio. He was primarily influenced by his association with Hilla Rebay and the Museum of Non-Objective Art (the Guggenheim), and from 1944-1948 worked on an unfinished film project for the Guggenheim. In 1947, he began producing medical teaching films and supplemented his income with work on medical books, while continuing to work on his paintings.

Provenance

The papers were donated to the archives by Dwinell Grant in 1988. Additional material was lent for microfilming by Dwinell Grant in 1988.

Related Materials

Also found at the Archives of American Art are materials lent for microfilming (reels 4154-4155) including writings, mostly from the 1980s, expressing Grant's thoughts and philosophies concerning himself and his art work, sometimes presented in the format of a journal; one album containing photographs of Grant, his family and friends, and nine albums of photographs of works and of gallery installations, annotated with information on sales, experiments with light, including a formula for stereoscopic drawing, notes on abstractfilms, medical illustrations, and dream fantasies; and two sketchbooks containing abstract drawings. Lent materials were returned to Grant and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Language Note

English .

Funding Note

The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.