Emile A. Gruppe American, 1896-1978

SOLD

Snowy Fields, Vermont
Signed (l.r.):  Emile A. Gruppe
Inscribed, signed and dated (on the reverse):
Snowy Field Vermont/by/Emile A. Gruppe 1940
Oil on canvas
39 1/8″ x 45″ framed
Ex. Coll:  Childs Gallery, Boston, MA, catalogue number 20,945; Nadeau’s Auction, Newcastle, Maine, January 1, 2008; to private collection.
Label:  painting retains a Childs Gallery label on the reverse.

Emile Gruppe was the son of the American painter Charles Paul Gruppe.  Although born in Rochester, New York in 1896, he spent much of his childhood in Holland where his father painted and dealt in paintings.  The younger Gruppe returned to the United States to study at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York and later the Carnegie Art School in Pittsburgh.

While Gruppe’s early paintings are tonalist, his style evolved.  The artist embraced plein-air Impressionism.  From 1925 on, Gruppe resided in Gloucester, Massachusetts but spent time in Vermont and Florida during the winter.  Not surprisingly Gruppe’s favorite subjects were Gloucester summer scenes and winter scenes of Vermont.  Gruppe is recognized as one of America’s most accomplished snow scene painters and Snowy Fields, Vermont illustrates why.