Bob Grenko (South Carolina, 20th century) the original CITADEL original pen and ink, framed, signed sight H13 1/2" W17". In frame 22.50"x18.50"x1". Weight 5 pds. With letter from Governor Nikki R. Haley, now US Ambassador to the United Nations. The letter that states that on Jan. 7, 2014, Bob Grenko was Recognized by Gov. Haley on behalf of the people of the Palmetto State for his exceptional artistic achievement. Gov. Haley goes on to acknowledge his “sincere appreciation for the unparalleled beauty of the Lowcountry and has been instrumental in sharing the unique charm and rich history of our state with people across South Carolina and Beyond.” PROVENANCE: A Charleston SC Private Estate. Born in 1926 in Centerville, Iowa, Grenko was drawing from an early age. From 1946-49, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago under the tutelage of Edgar Rupprecht and Isobel McKenna, becoming one of a group of seven students deemed by faculty to have "special vision." After graduating from the Chicago Art Institute, he spent most of the 1950s in Europe. In Paris he met and partied with Picasso and Lena Horne. From there he went to Spain and then Mexico. After he returned to the states, he settled down and became an advertising designer in big cities like New York and San Francisco. Grenko did years of color artwork in the advertising business, but for his personal drawings he preferred the medium of ink from the quill of a crow’s feather. It allowed him to capture detail he wasn't able to otherwise, creating the grain in the wood of buildings or texture of stone or sand. He settled in Waterboro around 1990 after years of traveling and living abroad. He became well known as the Barn Man in Charleston, Colleton, Beaufort, Berkeley, Hampton and Bamberg counties for his sketches of old barns discovering things he wanted to draw, any subject that embodied Southern history. In 2010 Grenko and Pat Hamilton opened an art gallery in Walterboro. Unfortunately for the lowcountry, Mr. Grenko's health began to fail and he relocated to Arizona to be with family.

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