The noted Toronto lawyer Stephen Grant about the book he’s co-authored with Julian Porter, 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in North America (So You Can Ignore the Others) (Dundurn, 2017), with Joseph Planta.

149 Paintings You Really Need to See in North America (So You Can Ignore the Others) by Stephen Grant (Dundurn, 2017). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in North America

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

One of the more lively and thoughtful books you’ll get is the recent publication, 149 Paintings You Really Need to See in North America (So You Can Ignore the Others). It’s written by two prominent lawyers in Toronto, who are life-long art lovers. What Julian Porter and Stephen Grant have done is written a guide book listing paintings that can be seen in public art galleries throughout the United States and Canada, that reflect the work of the greatest painters in history. From Picasso to Matisse, Modigliani to Renoir, Emily Carr to Tom Thomson, Cézanne to Gauguin, this book has those paintings that are necessary to see. They’re listed geographically, so if you find yourself in Boston or Philadelphia, or New York City, as I’ll be shortly, you can go to the appropriate galleries, and as the subtitle says, seek those important works and skip the rest. Each listed painting is usually accompanied by a photo in the book, and all paintings have an essay written by Mr. Porter or Mr. Grant. Stephen Grant joins me now. I’ll ask him about his appreciation for twentieth-century modernists, as well as how he views the works we see in this book. I’ll get him to tell us why he’s written this book, and why with Mr. Porter, who worked as a student tour guide in Europe and North America before his career as a litigation lawyer. Stephen Grant is a family lawyer in Toronto, where I’ve reached him this morning. He brought his many years of experience in family to the firm he launched in 2017, Grant Crawford Watson. He was awarded the Law Society Medal in 2006, The Advocates’ Society Medal in 2017, and most recently, the 2017 OBA Award for Excellence in Family Law. This book is published by Dundurn. I hope to have Julian Porter on the show in the coming days. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Stephen Grant; Mr. Grant, good morning.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (18.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS