Duncan Grant

Grant drew on a wide range of artistic influences from different cultures and different times, from 6th-century Byzantine mosaics to the latest developments in contemporary painting. He was interested in both fine art and design. In 1913 he became co-director of the Omega Workshops which produced artist-designed furniture, pottery and textiles. Grant’s source image for The Ass was an 11th-century Persian painting on a ceramic bowl. But the flattening of space in Grant’s painting also shows the influence of Pablo Picasso, whose work Grant saw in London around this time.