Helmut Gransow was born in 1921 in Saxony, Germany. His father, an amateur painter, notices his son’s talent for painting and encourages him to develop it. After having trained as a painter/decorator, he goes on to taking private painting lessons. Gransow continues honing his craft under Max Kraus at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, studies design and painting at Stuttgart’s Werkschule Merz, and moves on to the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, where his professors include Wilhelm Schnarrenberger and Otto Leible.
In 1949, Gransow emigrates to Canada, and settles the following year in the Laurentians, where his still lives and continues to create. Gransow has travelled extensively and painted in Canada, the U.S.A., Mexico, Germany, France, Yugoslavia, Portugal and Nigeria.
Gransow’s superior artistry is widely acclaimed, and he receives the painting award of the Québec Exposition Provinciale (1958), followed by the Art Gallery of Hamilton Purchase Award and an Honourable Mention at the Fourth Winnipeg show (1959), as well as the Graphics Prize at the 1968 Québec Exposition Provinciale.
It should be noted that Helmut Gransow became a member elect of the Society of Canadian Painters, etchers and Engravers (C.P.E.) in 1955, of the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts (S.G.A.) in 1961, and of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (R.C.A.) in 1983.
