| Duncan Grant 1885-1978  |
The son of a Scottish army officer, he
accompanied his parents to India, where he lived until the age of
9. He studied with Jacques-Emile Blanche in Paris in 1906, and later
at the Slade School of Art. Moved to 21 Fitzroy Square in 1909 and
thereafter became a regular at Virginia and Adrian Stephen's Thursday
evening gatherings. Sharing with Roger Fry and Vanessa Bell a commitment
to the decorative arts as well as to painting on canvas, he became
the co-director of the Omega Workshops in 1913. By all accounts
a handsome, kind and charming person, his lovers included Adrian
Stephen, Maynard Keynes and David Garnett; he was also courted by
his cousin Lytton Strachey. Though his sexual orientation remained
homosexual throughout his life, he was the father of Vanessa Bell's
daughter Angelica, and lived for many years at Charleston farm with
the Bell family.
"He 'got away with things'. Driving our little car along
the Strand, its engine stalled. Duncan got out and cranked it
up with the starting handle, not without effect: he just managed
to leap out of its way and run alongside as it proceeded slowly
down the Strand, its doors shut, finally ramming into a majestic
Daimler emerging from the Savoy. The innocent victim was naturally
enraged. If the culprit had been you or I this is where the story
might become unpleasant. Not for Duncan. The injured party at
once became his friend; it is said even that it ended with his
giving Duncan a commission for a portrait." Links:
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