Hugh Grant is the founder, Director and Curator of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art in Denver; also Adjunct Curator of the Kirkland Collection at the Denver Art Museum.
Grant established the Kirkland Foundation in 1996 to document, rediscover, collect, preserve, exhibit and publish Colorado artists, primarily from 1875 to 1980, with over 170 Colorado artists, represented by about 600 works on view. He built the majority of Kirkland Museum’s international modernist decorative art collection, concentrated from 1880 to 1980, of which there are more than 3,300 items on view. Kirkland Museum has the estate collection of Vance Kirkland (1904-1981), the distinguished Colorado painter, whose works have received more than 350 exhibitions at 70 museums and 35 universities encompassing 13 countries, many organized by Hugh.
Grant and Kirkland Museum have loaned many art works to 51 Colorado institutions in 16 towns and cities, 27 national institutions in 18 states, and 16 international institutions in 11 countries.
Grant won the Heartland Emmy Award for Best Entertainment Program of 2000 for his role as Executive Director of The Artist and The Muse, a ballet that aired on PBS stations, also winning eleven other awards. Grant wrote the scenario for this ballet, chose the 20th-century classical music, and dovetailed the scenario and music together, which was then performed by Colorado Ballet. Grant has also been Executive Producer of two other art documentaries airing on PBS stations. Grant has appeared in 3 HGTV “Hey Remember” decorative art programs. Grant has won two bronze (2nd) Chris Awards and a Silver CINDY (2nd). Antiques Roadshow, the PBS television series, taped at Kirkland Museum for two days in July 2009.
Other awards Grant has received include the 2009 Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Award for Contributions in the Field of Arts and Humanities, the 2000 Historic Denver—Ann Love Award for Historic Preservation, the 2000 AFKEY Award from the Alliance for Contemporary Art (AFCA), at the Denver Art Museum, and the 1999 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Grant has authored numerous articles on art for books, magazines, catalogs and brochures. He received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Denver (2003) and a B.A. degree from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins (1968). He is married to Merle C. Chambers.
