Redmond, Granville, 1871-1935

Granville Richard Seymour Redmond (March 9, 1871 – May 24, 1935) was an American landscape painter and exponent of Tonalism and California Impressionism. He was also an occasional actor for his friend Charlie Chaplin.


Steven Stern Fine Arts Collection
Early years
Redmond was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 9, 1871 to a hearing family. He contracted scarlet fever at around 2½ to the age of 3; when he recovered, he was found to be deaf. This change may have prompted his family's decision to move from the East Coast to San Jose, California: the possibility for his education at the Berkeley School for the Deaf. Granville attended the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley from 1879 to 1890 where his artistic talents were recognized and encouraged. There his teacher Theophilus d'Estrella taught him painting, drawing and pantomime.[1] In 1893 Redmond won a scholarship from the California School of the Deaf, which made it possible for him to study in Paris at the Académie Julian under teachers Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant. He roomed with the sculptor Douglas Tilden, another graduate of the California School for the Deaf. "Tilden was a tremendous help to Redmond, teaching him French and how to get around in Paris; they became best friends for the rest of their lives."[2] In 1895, Redmond's painting Matin d'Hiver was accepted for the Paris Salon.

Back in California
In 1898, he returned to California and settled in Los Angeles. He was married in 1899 to Carrie Ann Jean, a former student of the Illinois School for the Deaf. They had three children. While living in Los Angeles, he became friends with Charles Chaplin, who admired the natural expressiveness of a deaf person using American Sign Language. Chaplin asked Redmond to help him develop the techniques Chaplin later used in his silent films. Chaplin, impressed with Redmond's skill, gave Redmond a studio on the movie lot, collected his paintings, and sponsored him in silent acting roles, including the sculptor in City Lights. Chaplin told a writer for The Silent Worker of a Redmond painting "I could look at it for hours. It means so many things" and Chaplin's famous The Dance of the Oceana Rolls was Redmond-inspired.

During this time Redmond did not neglect his painting. Through Chaplin, he met Los Angeles neighbor artists Elmer Wachtel and Norman St. Clair. They showed works at the Spring Exhibition held in San Francisco in 1904. By 1905, Redmond was receiving considerable recognition as a leading landscape painter and bold colorist.

He died on May 24, 1935 in Los Angeles.