Emile Albert Gruppé was an American painter born in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

 to Helen and Charles P. Gruppe. He lived the early years of his life in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 as his father Charles Paul Gruppe, painted with the Hague school of art and acted as a dealer for the Dutch painters in the US. The family returned permanently to the states around 1913 when rumblings of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 were brewing. All of Emile’s siblings established themselves in the arts.

Gruppe's artistic career began in 1915 but was briefly interrupted in 1917, when he spent a year in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. He made his permanent studio in Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...

 and became a member of the Cape Ann

Cape Ann

Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...

 school of artists.

Although Gruppe is best known for his variety of impressionistic landscapes

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

, he also painted figures and portraits. His modern style was largely inherited from the French Impressionist Monet

Claude Monet

Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...

. "Lily Pads," date and location unknown, one of Gruppe's landscapes, attests to Monet's influence; it is similar to some of the paintings in Monet's "Water Lily" series.

He was the teacher of other famous artists including oil painter Otis Cook

Otis Cook

Otis Pierce Cook Jr. was an American painter born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was mostly famous for his oil paintings of coastal and landscape scenes and studied under Emil Gruppe of Gloucester. He lived much of his life in Rockport, MA and Cape Ann was the focal point for much of his...

 of Rockport, Massachusetts

Rockport, Massachusetts

Rockport is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,952 at the 2010 census. Rockport is located approximately 25 miles northeast of Boston at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula...

, and his work was an influence on Bill Wray

Bill Wray

William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...

, Nathalie Nordstrand, and other painters.

Gruppe's paintings are often seen in major auction galleries, such as Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

, Christies

Christie's

Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...

, and Skinner

Skinner

A skinner is a person who makes a living by working with animal skins or driving mules, similar to a muleteer.A common surname for numerous notable individuals:-Historical:*Charles Montgomery Skinner , American writer...

s. Auction prices have risen steadily and exceed most Rockport School artists. Gruppe is among the most prominent of Rockport artists, a group that that includes: Anthony Thieme

Anthony Thieme

Anthony Thieme was a landscape and marine painter and a major figure of the Rockport School of American regional art. He was a contemporary of important Rockport artists Aldro Hibbard, Emil Gruppe, W...

, Marguerite Pierson, Antonio Cirino, W Lester Stevens, and Aldro Hibbard

Aldro Hibbard

Aldro Thompson Hibbard was a prominent American plein air painter. He was born in Falmouth, MA, but lived most of his life in Rockport, MA. His depictions of snowy landscapes, particularly in Vermont are highly regarded...

.

Gruppe studied at the National Academy (NYC), and the Grande Chaumiere, Paris.