Blanche Chloe Grant (1874–1948), was a member of the Taos Art Colony, she was a painter of landscape and figure work associated with the Taos Pueblo Indians and the American Southwest. She was also a printmaker and wrote several books on the history of

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

Education

Grant was born in

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States. Part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Leavenworth is located on the west bank of the Missouri River, on the site o ...

. She attended high school in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and graduated in the first class from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

with an A.B. degree, majoring in History and English. She studied art at the School of the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

with

William McGregor Paxton William McGregor Paxton (June 22, 1869 – 1941) was an American painter and instructor who embraced the Boston School paradigm and was a co-founder of The Guild of Boston Artists. He taught briefly while a student at Cowles Art School, where ...

and Philip Leslie Hale, as well as the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

with

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design. ...

, and Henry Bainbridge McCarter, and at The

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

in New York.

Professional career

Before her career as an artist, Grant was a teacher and associate principal at high schools in East Bridgewater and Taunton, MA. Grant later became a part of

Howard Pyle Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853 – November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator, Painting, painter, and author, primarily of books for young people. He was a native of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware, and he spent the last year of his life ...

's circle of illustrators in Wilmington, Delaware and by 1914, she was an established magazine illustrator and landscape painter with a studio in New York. In 1920 she moved to

where she created her most notable works: paintings of the Taos

Pueblo Indians The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...

as well as writing several books on them, the history of Taos, and other parts of the Southwest including writing on

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

. In 1922 when Grant was editor of the Taos newspaper, Bert G. Phillips presented to her the idea that she might write the story of the various artists that followed him and what brought each of them to Taos. This suggestion along with her work at the newspaper seems to have been the start of her long commitment to the community affairs of Taos and promoting tourism and the art colonies there. In 1925, she published three Taos related books titled: "One hundred Years Ago in Old Taos", "Taos Today", and "Taos Indians". In her book "One Hundred Years Ago in Old Taos", Grant includes illustrations of five paintings by Taos Society artists including Joseph Henry Sharp, Eanger Irving Couse and Bert Geer Phillips. Here she promotes an upcoming book to be titled "Taos and its Artists" This title was never published, probably because the Taos Society of Artists was disbanded in 1927. Her 1925 title "Taos Today" ends with a guide to Taos and sections on "How to get to Taos", "What there is to see", "Where to go" and "What to do", and includes a calendar with dates of various fiestas, dances and other celebrations of the Puebloan people. In addition, the book lists local artists studios where tourists can visit by appointment. The list includes: In her 1934 title "When Old Trails Were New" she includes a chapter called "The Taos Art Colony" in which she finally tells the stories of the Taos Society of Artists as well as stories of other important artists from Taos at the time.

Collections and exhibitions

Blanche Grant showed in exhibitions on both the east and west coasts, including, the Second Annual Exhibition of the Omaha Society of Fine Arts and the First Traveling Exhibition of Western Painters. Her paintings can be found in private collections and at the

Harwood Museum of Art The Harwood Museum of Art is located in Taos, NM, Taos, New Mexico. Founded in 1923 by the Harwood Foundation, it is the second oldest art museum in New Mexico. Its collections include a wide range of Hispanic works and visual arts from the Ta ...

in Taos, the

New Mexico Museum of Art The New Mexico Museum of Art is an art museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe governed by the state of New Mexico, United States. It is one of four state-run museums in Santa Fe that are part of the Museum of New Mexico. It is located one bloc ...

in Santa Fe, and the Museum of the Southwest, Los Angeles, CA.

Death

On June 16, 1948, Grant died in Taos at 73 years old. Her funeral was attended by the Mayor of Taos, as well as friends from the art community.

Oscar Berninghaus Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (October 2, 1874 – April 27, 1952) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is best known for his paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico and the American Southwest. His son, ...

Victor Higgins William Victor Higgins (June 28, 1884 – August 23, 1949) was an American painting, painter and education, teacher, born in Shelbyville, Indiana. At the age of fifteen, he moved to Chicago, where he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, A ...

and

E. Martin Hennings Ernest Martin Hennings (February 5, 1886 – May 19, 1956) was an American artist and member of the Taos Society of Artists. Biography E. Martin Hennings was born in Penns Grove, New Jersey on February 5, 1886 to German immigrant parents. Two y ...

were among the pallbearers. She is buried at Sierra Vista Cemetery in Taos.

Legacy

Papers relating to an unpublished book called "The Forty Seventh Star - New Mexico" are held in the archives of the

Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, Lamont Library, and Loeb House, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library s ...

of the

Harvard University Library Harvard Library is the network of libraries and services at Harvard University, a private Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Library is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic librar ...

. Grant also produced murals for the New Mexico Technical University library ("Mine") in

Socorro, New Mexico Socorro (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, sə-KOR-oh'') is a city in Socorro County, New Mexico, Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is in the Middle Rio Grande Valley AVA, Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . At the 2020 ...

,Flynn, Kathryn A., ''Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture'', Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico 1995 p. 94 and for the Taos Presbyterian Church, the latter in 1921. These are no longer extant.

Selected bibliography

* Blanche Grant (1925)
Taos Indians
' * Blanche Grant (1925)
Taos Today
' * Blanche Grant (1925)
One Hundred Years Ago in Old Taos
' * Kit Carson; Blanche Grant (1926)
Kit Carson's own story of his life
' * Blanche Grant (1934)
When Old Trails Were New: The Story of Taos
' * Blanche Grant (1941)
Doña Lona: a Story of Old Taos and Santa Fé
'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Blanche Chloe 1874 births 1948 deaths American muralists Artists from Taos, New Mexico 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters People from Leavenworth, Kansas People of the New Deal arts projects Federal Art Project artists Artists from Kansas Vassar College alumni School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty Writers from Kansas Writers from Taos, New Mexico 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers American women muralists American women academics