James Ardern Grant (1887–1973) was born in Liverpool and studied at the Liverpool School of Art and the Académie Julian in Paris before returning to England. He was a member of the Sandon Studios in Liverpool and taught at the Liverpool School of Art, before moving to London after his marriage in 1913.
In London, Grant became vice-principal of the Central School of Arts and Crafts. In 1932 he was elected a Fellow of Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and was a member, and later president, of the Pastel Society. In April 1944, during the Second World War, Grant had a single portrait commission approved by the War Artists' Advisory Committee. His portraits of Alexander Fleming and Lamorna Birch are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Throughout his career Grant exhibited extensively at the Royal Academy, Chenil Gallery, the New English Art Club, the Royal Society of Arts. His works can be found in the collections of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, The British Museum, and the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Durham.
