"Head" by James B. Gantt (Kansas/Missouri, 1911-1984), oil on artist board, professionally cleaned, artist name, title and date inscribed on back, framed - 15" x 19 1/4" 
 
James Gantt was a painter and illustrator born in Lawrence, Kansas. Gantt's father was an educated lawyer, the son of Judge James Britton Gantt. He did not practice law, however, instead working on railroads. He developed a drinking problem and lost his job, and the family moved frequently during Gantt's early childhood. His parents eventually divorced and Gantt went to live with his aunt in Kansas City, Missouri. Gantt set out on his own at age sixteen, traveling the country in search of work. He was a farmhand, cattle herder, dishwasher, circus performer and movie stuntman. Gantt received his first artistic training at the Dallas Art Institute in 1933. His professor, Olin Travis, helped him get a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. There he studied with painters Ross Braught and Thomas Hart Benton. He formed a friendship with Benton, connecting over their shared rural background and interest in jazz. When Benton was fired from the Art Institute in 1939, Gantt joined a committee of alumni and rose to his defense. Gantt enrolled with the Works Progress Administration and painted murals around Kansas City. During the late 1930s, Gantt frequently exhibited his work in the Midwestern Artists Exhibition at the Kansas City Art Institute. He participated in the 1939 New York World's Fair and a group exhibition at the Association of American Artists. Gantt regularly contributed illustrations for the jazz magazine Swing Time.In the later part of his life, painting was not his primary source of incomes; he worked in corporate jobs including as an executive assistant and sales associate.