Emile Gruppe, American, 1896-1978; Massachusetts; landscape and marine painting, teaching.

The Float Rocky Neck is an oil on canvas that is signed lower right, and titled and dated (1959) on the stretcher back. Salmagundi Art Club label attached on verso. 24 x 30 in., 31.5 x 36.5 in. frame

Gruppe established a permanent studio and gallery in Gloucester, Massachusetts in the early 1920s. Venturing outside, he painted local scenes and marine views nearly every day, maintaining a consistent art presence in the area. He depicted docked boats and village scenes at harbors, capturing brief moments on bustling shorelines. His early work exuded a Tonalist manner and a French Impressionistic style, and he was influenced by Claude Monet. Gruppe was a plein-air artist for sixty years, mastering a rapid, gestural painting process. His mature work combined the atmospheric characteristics of Impressionism with the dynamism of Realism. In The Float Rocky Neck, Gruppe illustrated what was occurring on the shoreline that day. Later paintings such as this oil painting incorporate more robust and loose brushwork, thick impasto, a richer palette, and a more comprehensive sense of compositional design. Gruppe pioneered an art colony, instructed in art, and published three books on painting techniques. His style was intended to provide an impression of reality from which viewers can use their imaginations to fill in the details. His works genuinely affirm the beauty of the everyday.