Fonds F1663 - Grant Kenneth Macdonald fonds

Grant Kenneth Macdonald was born on June 27, 1909 in Montreal. From 1928 to 1929 he studied art under Carl Ahrens in Galt. From 1929 to 1930 he was a part-time student at the Ontario College of Art. He studied under George Bridgman at the Art Student's league, New York City from 1931 to 1932 and 1939 to 1940. From 1932 to 1933 he studied at Heatherley's Art School, London, England. From 1928 to 1929 he worked as a photo retoucher at the Toronto Star. From this period on he contributed illustrations to many periodicals and newspapers including the Globe and Mail, Star Weekly, Mayfair, Chatelaine, Maclean's and Saturday Night. From 1943 to1946 he was an artist in the Directorate of Special Services, Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Regiment. Numerous wartime drawings were published in the Montreal Gazette. He illustrated many books published in the years 1927 to 1954. The books included several works by Robertson Davies, Tyrone Guthrie and C.L. Burton. Macdonald was instructor in figure drawing at the Queen's University Summer School in 1948, 1952, 1953, 1964 and 1965. He worked as an artist in Kingston from 1951 to the end of his career. His works were exhibited in numerous one-man exhibitions throughout Canada and England. He died in Kingston on September 18, 1987