Grace Greenwood Ames

Not to be confused with Sara Jane Lippincott.
Grace Greenwood Ames
Born
Grace Greenwood

(1902-01-15)January 15, 1902
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 21, 1979(1979-07-21) (aged 74)
New York City, U.S.
Other namesGrace Greenwood Crampton, Grace Crampton, Grace Ames
EducationArt Students League of New York
Years active1930–1940
Known forPainting
MovementMexican muralism, Social realism
Spouse(s)[?] Ames, (unknown dates) Rollin Crampton (6 January 1958-?)
Parents
  • Walter Greenwood (father)
  • Kathryn Boyland (mother)
RelativesMarion Greenwood (sister)

Grace Greenwood Ames (born Brooklyn, January 15, 1905 – died New York City, July 21, 1979)[1][2] was an American artist and social realism muralist. She worked in Mexico on murals alongside historical artists.

When she married, rather than dropping her maiden name she added her husband's surname Ames on to the end of her name, and called herself variously 'Grace Greenwood', 'Grace Ames', or (as she has become known) 'Grace Greenwood Ames'.[3] Later in life she went by 'Grace Crampton', her second husband's last name.[4][5]

Biography

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Grace Greenwood was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 15, 1905, to Walter Greenwood and Kathryn Boyland.[1][2] Her father was a painter and her younger sister Marion Greenwood was also an artist.[2][6] Ames studied at Art Students League of New York, alongside her sister.[7] She went on to study art in Italy in the 1920s.[8] In 1929, both of the Greenwood sisters participated in the famed Bohemian event, the Maverick Festival (1915–1931) at the Maverick Art Colony in Woodstock, New York.[9]

Between 1933 and 1936, Ames worked on five murals with her sister Marion, serving as her painting assistant while in Mexico.[7][8] One of the murals was at the Aberlardo L. Rodríguez market in the historic center of Mexico City and the Museo Regional Michoacano, commissioned by the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in Morelia, Mexico.[7] Grace Ames painted murals together with Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Pablo O'Higgins, Leopoldo Méndez, and other well-known Mexican "muralista".[10][6]

Her work includes the oil on canvas murals titled Progress of Power in the post office of Lexington, Tennessee, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, and completed in 1940.[11]

Later in life Ames eventually decided not to follow an art career,[12] instead she moved to Woodstock, New York and took her second husband's last name, going by the name Grace Crampton.[4][5]

Ames work is found in public art collections including the National Gallery of Art,[13] amongst others.

Exhibitions

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Grace Greenwood (Ames)". New Deal/W.P.A. Artist Biographies. Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Catalogs : Life of Marion Greenwood (1909-1970)". Michael Brown Rare Books. Archived from the original on 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  3. ^ Salus, Carol; Fattal, Laura Felleman, eds. (2004). Out of Context: American artists abroad. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 9780313316494.
  4. ^ a b Morgan, Ann Lee (2007). Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 192. ISBN 9780195373219.
  5. ^ a b "Oral History Interview with Grace Greenwood". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. 29 January 1965. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b Chernick, Karen (2018-03-19). "The Brooklyn-Born Sisters Diego Rivera Dubbed "The Greatest Living Women Mural Painters"". Artsy. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  7. ^ a b c Guillermo, Rivas (June 1936). "The murals of Grace Greenwood". Mexican Life. 6. Mexico City, Mexico: 28–30. Archived from the original on 2019-06-22. Retrieved 2020-01-09 – via International Center of the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), Museum of the Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH).
  8. ^ a b Oles, James (2004). "Chapter 7 - The Mexican Murals of Marion and Grace Greenwood". Out of Context: American Artists Abroad. Issue 8 of Contributions to the study of art and architecture. Greenwood Publishing. pp. 113–134. ISBN 9780313316494.
  9. ^ "Maverick Festival Personalities". New Paltz. 2007. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  10. ^ "Grace Greenwood", National Museum of Women in the Arts
  11. ^ "Beech River Heritage Museum (Old Post Office) Mural - Lexington TN". Living New Deal. July 13, 2016. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  12. ^ "Marion Greenwood: A Modern Woman in Modern Mexico". docomomo-us.org. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  13. ^ "Artist Info, Grace Greenwood". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  14. ^ "PM Competition: The Artist as Reporter". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
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