Duncan Grant
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Duncan James Corrowr Grant (January 21, 1885- May, 9 1978) was a Scottish painter, a member of the Bloomsbury group.
He was born in Rothiemurchus near Inverness and studied art at the Slade School and in Italy and Paris.
He was a cousin (and for some time a lover) of Lytton Strachey: through the Stracheys Duncan was introduced to the Bloomsbury Group, where he, amongst others, became a lover of Maynard Keynes.
Though essentially a homosexual he became a lover of Vanessa Bell, with whom he lived from before the start of the First World War, by 1916 ending up in the house named Charleston near Firle in Sussex. He and Vanessa painted in Charleston and decorated the house itself with their paint.
Although it is assumed that his sexual relation with Vanessa had stopped before their daughter Angelica was born, Christmas 1918, they stayed with each other till Vanessa's death in 1961, Duncan continuing to live in Charleston until shortly before his own death.
Living together with Vanessa was no impediment for his relations with men, neither before or after Angelica was born.
He worked with, and was influenced by, another member of the group, Roger Fry. As well as painting landscapes and portraits, he was a designer of textiles and ceramics.
In his old age Paul Roche, whom he knew since 1946, went through quite some effort looking after him. Eventually he died in Paul's house!
Further reading
- Duncan Grant, a biography by Frances Spalding (1997) ISBN 0701134097