Duncan Grant
Dates: b.1885 - d.1978
Gender: Male
Nationality: British
Duncan Grant was the lead artist for the murals in Berwick Church and put forward the initial proposals. He moved with Clive and Vanessa Bell (sister of Virginia Woolf) to Charleston Farmhouse, at the foot of the Downs, three miles to the west of Berwick, in 1916. Read more…
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Biography:
Duncan Grant was the lead artist for the murals in Berwick Church and put forward the initial proposals. He moved with Clive and Vanessa Bell (sister of Virginia Woolf) to Charleston Farmhouse, at the foot of the Downs, three miles to the west of Berwick, in 1916. His work is influenced by his travels in Italy where as an art student he had seen the mosaics at Ravenna and copied the frescoes of Piero della Francesca (1420-1492) at Arezzo. Then in Paris he had copied works by Chardin (1699-1779) portraying scenes from everyday life, ordinary people in work or recreation. At the same time he studied the work of the Impressionists and was later greatly influenced by the Post-Impressionists such as Cezanne, Seurat, and others.
Duncan Grant became known as a British Post-Impressionist for his use of bright colour and direct application of paint freed of convention. The murals at Berwick exhibit influences from all these traditions, but also something of the artists focus on the intimacy of the home and personal relationships and their love of the beauty and simplicity of the Downland landscape.
(Taken from Berwick Church website)