Clarence Dwinell Grant (1912,

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County, Ohio, Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approxim ...

- 1991,

Doylestown, Pennsylvania Doylestown is a borough and the county seat of Bucks County in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Trenton, north of Center City, Philadelphia, southeast of Allentown, and southwest of New York City. As of the 2020 cen ...

) was an American visual artist known for his pioneering contributions to the field of art film.

Biography

Grant began studying landscape painting at an early age with his grandfather Paul Emilio Henking. In 1931, he enrolled at the Dayton Art Institute, where he first was exposed to modernism and abstraction. One year later, he moved to New York, entering the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

in 1933. In 1935, he became an instructor in art and dramatics at Wittenberg College in Ohio. He had little time to paint, but found that working with student dramatics provided a create outlet for his innovative ideas. Although Grant's avant-garde ideas brought some criticism at Wittenberg, colleagues at the Dayton Art Institute encouraged his work. On their suggestion, he wrote to Hilla Rebay at the Guggenheim Foundation, who provided him with ongoing support. Between 1938 and 1941, Grant made several experimental films, including the animated production "Contrathemis." In 1938, he had his first solo exhibit, at the Dayton Art Institute, and in 1940, he had a one-man show at the Guggenheim. His short, silent animated artworks strongly influenced experimental filmmaking in the following decades. In 1942, Grant began working for a film company, and made navy training films during World War II. He later worked creating scientific illustration and making films for the medical profession. As his professional career began to take precedence, he exhibited his private creative work only on rare occasions. His work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the Guggenheim, and the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

References

External links

Works by Dwinell Grant
in the Smithsonian American Art Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Dwinell 1912 births 1991 deaths People from Doylestown, Pennsylvania Filmmakers from Ohio People from Springfield, Ohio Artists from Pennsylvania Artists from Ohio National Academy of Design alumni