Nicholas Raphael de Grandmaison

De Grandmaison was born in Moscow to noble French and Russian parents. From a young age, he was interested in painting and the fine arts, but his career took another path when he received a commission in the White Russian army, prior to the Russian Revolution. However, from 1914 on, while in a German prison camp he started making portraits. Afterwards he decided to pursue an education in the arts and travelled to study art in London and Paris, before settling to Canada in 1923. Although he studied oil painting, he used pastels after his move as they were easier to obtain in Canada during that time.[1]

On September 19, 1931, he married Sonia de Grandmaison (née Sonia Dournovo), another Russian artist living in Canada. Sonia was born in 1912 in Russia, and was the daughter of Colonel Orest Dournovo and Alexandra Berdiaeff, who had immigrated to Canada after the Russian Revolution. Nicholas and Sonia decided to settle in Calgary, where they made their living painting portraits of children. But soon they both became interested in characterization, which developed into a lifelong study of the First Nations in Canada and America. They started to travel more to various reserves and reservations across North America in order for Nicholas to paint, but in 1939 made their home in Banff.[2]

By the end of his life, Nicholas R. de Grandmaison was an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy, spoke several First Nations' languages, and was invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 1972. Through his work and his art, de Grandmaison captured an important era of Canadian and American history, and is considered a prominent visual historian in Canada; his work is represented in numerous public and private art collections throughout North America.[3][4] Nick de Grandmaison was staunchly proud of both his Russian and French heritage. He was particular that he was “de Gandmaison” and he was to be the only artist in Canada to be “de Grandmaison”. His eldest son (and his eldest child) was Orest, but generally known as “Rick”. Rick made a name for himself in his own right, in the arts world. He painted under the name of O.N. Grandmaison - he was not “de Grandmaison”. At still a young age, O.N. Grandmaison passed away. Nicholas de Grandmaison had four other children, Tamara Grandmaison, Sonja Claire Grandmaison, Nicholas Grandmaison and Lubov Alexandra “Lousandra” Grandmaison. A large collection of de Grandmaison works are held by the University of Lethbridge (Alberta).

• Dempsey, Hugh (1984). History in Their Blood : The Indian Portraits of Nicholas de Grandmaison. Calgary: Hudson Hills Press/Prudential Press. ISBN 0933920326. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
• Snyder, Gordon (2007). Drawn from the Past: Nicholas de Grandmaison. Calgary: Snyder Fine Arts. ISBN 9780978428204. Retrieved 2020-05-13.