Percy Grainger as an Artist

It is not very well known that in addition to his prodigious gifts as pianist and composer, Percy Grainger was also a talented artist. Learning initially from his father John Grainger, the well-known architect (but fine watercolourist), and then from Frederick McCubbin – the famous Australian artist of the Heidelberg School, up until the age of eighteen, Grainger was seriously considering dropping his music career altogether in favour of the visual arts. Given that he befriended artists such as McCubbin, Rupert Bunny, Tom Roberts, Norman Lindsay (to name but a few), this is hardly surprising! Pictured is one of Percy Grainger’s artworks in watercolour.

Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961), Oscillator-playing tone tool, 1^st experiment, 1951, watercolour, ink and graphite on paper, 14.2 x 25.7 cm, Grainger Museum collection, University of Melbourne.