Monthly Meeting

This multi-generational family of accomplished painters has helped define the art of Cape Ann for almost a century with their vibrant plein air landscapes. Drawn to the area after seeing the work of contemporaries such as Carl Peters, Frederick Mulhaupt and William Lester Stevens, Charles and Emile Gruppe first visited Cape Ann in 1925. The natural beauty of Cape Ann insurance, with its seacoasts and seaports, provided the Gruppés with the subjects they loved most – rocky shorelines, working harbors, quaint towns and snow-covered landscapes. Charles and Emile continued to paint on Cape Ann for the rest of their lives, and Robert Gruppe still maintains a studio in Gloucester’s historic Rocky Neck Art Colony.

Emile A. Gruppé was born in Rochester, N.Y., business cards although he spent much time in Holland, where he developed his love of maritime subjects. Classically trained, he quickly developed his own impressionistic style. His work is known for its bold brushwork, local color and ability to capture a sense of place and atmosphere of his subjects. He was a prolific painter and a beloved and generous teacher who became one of the most prominent members of the Cape Ann art community. In 1929, Emile established a studio in Gloucester’s Rocky Neck, and in 1942 he founded the Gruppé Summer School. Although he painted in Jeffersonville, Vermont and Florida, he maintained his primary studio in Gloucester until his death in 1978 credit report.

In addition to his father’s artistic influence, Emile attended the Carnegie Art School where he studied with George Bridgeman; the Arts Students League, Woodstock, N.Y., under John F. Carlson; and Provincetown with Charles Hawthorne, Richard Miller, and George Chapman. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1917 and served for a year. He was a member of the Salmagundi Club; North Shore Arts Association; Rockport Art Association; Gloucester Society of Artists; Allied Artists of America; Longboat Key AA; Sarasota AA; Grand Central Art Galleries; Rochester AA; Audubon Artists; Northern Vermont Artists; New Haven Paint & Clay Club; CAFA; Meriden Arts & Crafts; St. Augustine AA; and Academic Artists in Springfield customer service.

Charles P. Gruppé was a Canadian-born artist who instilled a love for art in his children. A more traditional landscape painter, he made his living representing the European Barbizon artists’ work in America, and he split his time between Holland and New York. He died in 1940, at age 80, in his Rockport summer studio on Bearskin Neck, one he had shared with his son when they first arrived on Cape Ann in the mid-1920s.

Robert C. Gruppé, a contemporary impressionist painter, was born in 1944. He continues the artistic legacy of his father Emile and grandfather Charles in his own evolving personal style which embodies the influences of his heritage and his environment — Cape Ann and Naples, Fla. He records the impressions of a scene with increasingly powerful brush strokes in his characteristic palette of vibrant colors. His paintings capture the light, movement, and mood of the composition. They share with the observer a story which blends the past and present combining his family tradition with a contemporary need for a personal statement. He maintains his studio and gallery in the historic schoolhouse on Rocky Neck in Gloucester, where his father worked and ran the Gloucester School of Painting.