Charles Paul Gruppé

Charles Paul Gruppé was born in Canada of German parents. His family emigrated to the US when he was a little boy. He was self-taught as a painter of oil paintings and watercolors. During his self-study, he frequently traveled to the Netherlands as well as to Germany and France, but never sought academic training. Dutch painting influenced him throughout his life for his landscape and marine paintings and his genre scenes. Gruppé lived in the Netherlands for about 25 years and was a member of the local art scene. It was not until the outbreak of World War II that he finally returned to the USA.

Together with his son Emile Albert (1896-1978) he later ran a very effective studio in Rockport, Massachusetts. His other children Karl Heinrich (1893-1982), Virginia Helena (1907-80), and Paulo Mesdag (1891-1979) also became known as visual artists or musicians.

The title of his entry, Fishing Schooner Races at East Gloucester, Mass., goes back to the traditional Fisherman’s Race held in the 1920s off Gloucester, Massachusetts. The original title of the painting is Fisherman’s Race, East Gloucester (oil on cardboard, 30 x 41 cm).