Emile Gruppe (American, 1896-1978), Forest Bathing

Oil on canvas, signed at lower right, presented in a period frame.

Stretcher size 29 x 29 in.; Frame dimensions 33 1/2 x 33 1/4 in.

Acquired by the consignor from an estate in Saint Peters, Pennsylvania.

Emile Albert Gruppé was an American painter best known for his vibrant impressionist landscapes and harbor scenes, particularly those of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Rockport, where he became a central figure in the Cape Ann art community. Born in Rochester, New York, into a family of artists, his father being landscape painter Charles P. Gruppé, he studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

In 1942, he and his mentor John Fabian Carlsen founded the Gruppe Summer School in Gloucester. He later added a second campus in the mountains of Vermont near the village of Jeffersonville in the town of Cambridge. Late in life he began spending time in Naples, Florida.

Gruppe exhibited extensively throughout his life and was honored with awards from The National Academy, The Salmagundi Club, North Shore Arts Association, Rockport Art Association and more.

Light surface grime; canvas in need of re-stretching; minor nicks to frame; no evidence of retouch visible under UV light.