Charles Gruppe (American, 1860-1940) Old Landmarks, Caledonia Creek

Charles Gruppe (American, 1860-1940)
Landscape and marine painter Charles Paul Gruppe was born in Picton, Canada, September 3rd, 1860. When Gruppe was ten, he moved with his family to Rochester, New York, after the death of his father. Interested in painting from an early age, he spent much of his time sketching and creating watercolors and oils. To help support his mother and sisters, he worked in a sign-painting shop, soon mastering the craft.
Eventually, at age twenty-one, he had earned enough money to travel steerage to Europe, where he traveled through France, Germany, and Holland, searching for a place to settle and practice his art. He was taken with Holland, perhaps attracted to its fishing villages with their picturesque boats and quaint houses and decided to stay. He built a home and studio in the little fishing village of Katwyk Ann Zee and painted much of his European work in the vicinity of that town. Altogether, Gruppe spent over twenty years in Holland, becoming a celebrity artist and ultimately being patronized by the royalty of Europe. His work is represented in many museums in America and Europe.
Charles P. Gruppe died at age 80 in Rockport, Massachusetts, on September 30th, 1940 at his studio where he had been established during the summers for 15 years. The remainder of each of those years, he had spent in New York City, where he was an active member of the Salmagundi Club.