Emile Gruppe was born in Rochester, New York, but spent most of his childhood in Holland with his father. Upon returning to the United States, he studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students’ League in New York City. He trained with many well known instructors, including Charles Hawthorne, George Bridgman, Charles Chapman and Richard Miller. Gruppe also met Woodstock, New York artist John F. Carlson in the late 1910’s, and studied with him for four years.
In the early decades of the 20th century, Massachusetts’ Cape Ann was a magnet for artists seeking summer months out of the hot cities of Boston, New York, Chicago and beyond. Some were traditional artists, some were moderns. Some, such as John Sloan, Edward Hopper, and Childe Hassam, were nationally known, and their presence added luster to the mix. Emile Gruppe first came to Cape Ann after he saw the work of North Shore notables William Lester Stevens and Frederick J. Mulhaupt at the National Academy of Design in 1925. Gruppe and his father, Charles, arrived in Rockport shortly after the exhibition, and lived for four years on Bearskin Neck.
By 1929, Gruppe had moved to Gloucester and established his gallery in the town’s old one room schoolhouse at 32 Rocky Neck Avenue. He and John Carlson formed the Gruppe Summer School in 1942, which was in operation until the mid 1970s. He was a well liked and respected teacher who believed that an artist’s inspiration should be found out of doors. In one of his three books on painting he wrote: “Outside you see and feel the character of your subject. It’s an open book – all you have to do is learn how to read.”1 Gruppe carried his enthusiasm off the canvas and became a prominent figure in the arts community. He was an active member of the Rockport Art Association, the Gloucester Society of Artists, and the North Shore Arts Association from 1929 until his death in 1978. Gruppe also exhibited at the Allied Artists of America, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Academy of Design periodically between 1915 and 1941. His work is in the public collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the White House.
References: See Who Was Who in American Art (1986) and Emile A. Gruppé, A Retrospective (Gloucester, MA: North Shore Art Association, 1997).
1 Martin, Lisa B., “The Cape Ann School” The Catalogue of Antiques and Fine Art. (March-April 1992).
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