Holly Grosvenor

New England-based painter Holly Grosvenor captures the mesmerizing luminosity of her environment. The daughter of renowned watercolorist and oil painter Richard Grosvenor, she grew up on a diet of sketching trips and observations during her father’s classes. Grosvenor’s paintings are based on dozens of plein air watercolor sketches and photographs, which she takes for more detailed reference. Acting on her self-proclaimed obsession with luminosity, she studies sunlight as it reflects off the surface of a natural element or artificial object and the way it changes throughout the day, seasons, or weather conditions.

The iridescent quality of light, the way it fragments into rays of different colors, filters through water, and touches the bottom of the sea is a source of endless fascination for the artist. With meticulous precision, Grosvenor eternalizes fleeting miracles of the everyday. “Passing moments of uncelebrated beauty,” she calls them, seemingly sterile objects rendered beautiful by light. By opening our eyes to the wonders that surround us, Grosvenor fosters a deep appreciation for the here and now. She cites Impressionism, Fauvism, Abstract Expressionism, and American Transcendentalism as her inspirations.

Grosvenor has a B.A. in Environmental Design from Brown University and an M.A. in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She has been a practicing architect for forty years. She lives and works in western Massachusetts.

Iridescent, 2021