| Nicholas de Grandmaison was born in 1892 to an
aristocratic family in Russia. He was descended from
Russian nobility and was related to Leo Tolstoy. He
studied art, music, history, languages, cartography and
topography.
He immigrated to Canada in 1917, fleeing ahead of the
revolution to come to the Canadian prairies. He became
known as a portrait painter and was commissioned to
paint many heads of corporations and their families. His
favorite media were oil paint and oil pastel, generally
choosing to use French sandpaper pastel paper.
His real desire was to paint the impressive looking
natives that he lived in the midst of, realizing they
were living a way of life that would soon disappear. In
the 1930's and 1940's he began painting and sculpting
the Plains Indians of Southern Alberta, with occasional
forays into British Columbia and the Northern United
States. His work portrays these noble people in their
everyday clothing, featuring buckskin and native
beadwork that would soon be replaced by blue denim and
leather cowboy boots. His portraits were able to capture
the strength and vitality of his sitters and hold the
attention of the viewer by his ability to capture the
character of the sitter.
He received many honours during his lifetime; and was
inducted into the Peigan Tribe and received the
Blackfoot name of Eenuk-Sahpo'p (Little Plume). |
