Nicholas de Grandmaison, Native Portrait (Sun Chief), Siksika, n.d. Pastel on paper

Nicholas de Grandmaison, Sun Calf, Siksika, 1949. Pastel on paper

Born in 1892 into an aristocratic family in Russia, Nicholas de Grandmaison studied art, music, history, languages, cartography and topography. After spending most of the First World War in a POW camp in Germany, de Grandmaison immigrated to Canada in 1923. In the 1930s and 1940s de Grandmaison began painting and sculpting portraits of the Plains Indians of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta, convinced as many people were at the time, that traditional aboriginal cultures and lifestyles would soon disappear.

De Grandmaison had a unique rapport with his subjects, and his portraits seem to capture their strength, vitality and emotion. De Grandmaison in fact, was the only artist that High Eagle, the last surviving warrior of the Custer massacre, agreed to sit for. His work is now represented in public and private collections across Canada and his honours include induction into the Royal Canadian Academy, the Order of Canada and receipt of  the Blackfoot name Eenuk-Sahpo'p (Little Plume).

In 1988, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery received a donation from the de Grandmaison family of over one hundred oil pastels and paintings from the artist's estate, as well as a large archive comprised of photographs, letters and tape recordings that document the artist’s life and work. This collection offers unique insights into the artist's working methods and chronicles de Grandmaison’s long and successful career as a portraitist in Canada.

This exhibition, DRAWN FROM THE PAST, includes important First Nations and Metis portraits, including notable images of Good Eagle, Sun Chief, Grasshopper and Senator James Gladstone; such as the artist’s buckskin and eagle headdress worn on the occasion of his induction into the Peigan Nation in 1959, as well as audio recordings of interviews with his subjects and traditional songs.

DRAWN FROM THE PAST: The Portraits & Practice of Nicholas de Grandmaison was curated by Gordon Snyder, and circulated by the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery.

Exhibition Catalogue

Gordon Snyder, curator of the exhibition DRAWN FROM THE PAST, has published a book that traces these archives by sharing examples of de Grandmaison’s works, drawings and notes, as well as letters and quotes from people who knew him.