Emile Albert Gruppé (1896–1978) was an American painter born in Rochester, New York to Helen and Charles P. Gruppe. He lived the early years of his life in the Netherlands 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 were brewing. All of Emile’s siblings established themselves in the arts.
Emile Gruppe had an artistic career that began in 1915 but was briefly interrupted in 1917, when he spent a year in the United States Navy. He made his permanent studio in Gloucester, Massachusetts and became a member of the Cape Ann school of artists.
Although Emile Gruppe is best known for his variety of impressionistic landscapes, he also painted figures and portraits. Emile Gruppe had a modern style that was largely inherited from the French Impressionist Monet. "Lily Pads," date and location unknown, one of EmileGruppe's landscapes, attests to Monet's influence; it is similar to some of the paintings in Monet's "Water Lily" series.
Emile Gruppe was the teacher of other famous artists including oil painter Otis Cook of Rockport, Massachusetts, and his work was an influence on Bill Wray, Nathalie Nordstrand, and other painters.
You can often see the paintings of Emile Gruppe in major auction galleries, such as Sotheby's, Christies, and Skinners. 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, Marguerite Pierson, Antonio Cirino, W Lester Stevens, and Aldro Hibbard.
Emile Gruppe studied at the National Academy (NYC), and the Grande Chaumiere, Paris.