Albert Lorey Groll

Albert Lorey Groll (1866–1952) was an American artist and etcher. He was born in New York City and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany, the Royal Academy in Antwerp, Belgium, and for some time in London. In 1910 he was elected into the National Academy of Design.[1] He is best known for his landscape paintings of the American Southwest.

Albert Lorey Groll
Albert Groll in 1906
Born1866
New York City
Died1952
New York City
NationalityAmerican
EducationAcademy of Fine Arts, Munich
Known forLandscape painting
AwardsGeorge Inness Gold Medal
ElectedNational Academy of Design

Life and career
George Inness gold medal

Groll was born in New York in 1866, the son of a pharmacist immigrant from Darmstadt, Germany. During his early years he travelled to Europe to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, then called Royal Academy of Fine Arts, under Nicholas Gysis and Ludwig von Löfftz.[2] He also studied in London and in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium.[3] Groll went back to New York in 1895 and moved from figure painting to landscape painting in part due to the high cost of hiring models.[4] He also became well known as an etcher.[5]

In 1904 Groll made the first of several trips to the American Southwest, travelling to Arizona with ethnographer Stewart Culin of the Brooklyn Museum,[2] and later going to New Mexico with his friend the artist and illustrator William Robinson Leigh.[4] He mostly focused on oil paintings of the Native American lands, which were mostly realistic, however, encompassed some abstract shapes as well. The Laguna Pueblo people were impressed by Groll's paintings and gave him the name "Chief Bald-Head-Eagle Eye".[4]

Groll kept a studio in the Gainsborough Studios in Manhattan, and won several awards for his work in both Arizona and New York, such as the Salmagundi Club Shaw Prize in 1904,[6][7] and a gold medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1906.[3] He also won a George Inness gold medal in 1912 for his painting of Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.[8][7] This medal was awarded in the annual exhibit of National Academy of Design from 1901 to 1918 to the best landscape paintings.[9]

In 1919 Groll was elected as an associate member of the Taos Society of Artists,[2] and in 1933 became a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.[10] He was also invited to join the American Watercolor Society.[11]

He died on 2 October 1952, aged 85 years old, with funeral services held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan.[12]

Selected exhibitions

Style and legacy

Groll's work is characterized by his skillful technique, rich colors, and poetic approach to landscape,[17] being called a "musical dreamer in color" in the contemporary press.[8] His landscapes are mostly realistic but also use abstract shapes.[3]

Groll helped popularize the desert as an artistic subject for American art, introducing other artists from the East coast such as William Robinson Leigh to the Southwest.[3] Groll's paintings are part of the collections of museums such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[18] Gilcrease Museum,[19] the University of Arizona Museum of Art,[20] and the San Diego Museum of Art,[21] among others.

References
  1. Samuels, Peggy; Samuels, Harold (1985). Samuels' Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West. Secaucus, N.J.: Castle. p. 197. ISBN 1555210147.
  2. Dearinger, David B. (2004). Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design. Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press. p. 241. ISBN 1555950299.
  3. Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson. "Albert Groll - Biography". askART. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  4. "Albert Lorey Groll (1866-1952)". Taos and Santa Fe Painters. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  5. "Etchings of Lorey Groll and George Elbert Burr create discussion in art colony as works are shown". Arizona Republic. March 11, 1934. p. 12. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  6. "Albert Lorey Groll, N.A." Oxford Gallery. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  7. "Paintings by American artists: Colonial portraits". Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries: Digital Collections. Macbeth Gallery. 1913. p. 22. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  8. "Aquarelles worth while". The Spokesman-Review. February 16, 1916. p. 8. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  9. "George Inness Gold Medal". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  10. "Given high honor: Albert Lorey Groll elected to National Institute". The Ridgewood Herald. February 3, 1933. p. 4. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  11. "Albert Lorey Groll". Victoria Chick. July 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  12. "Albert Lorey Groll obituary". Daily News. October 3, 1952. p. 814. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  13. "Albert Lorey Groll". Database of Modern Exhibitions (DoME) | European Paintings and Drawings 1905-1915. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  14. Biennale di Venezia; Biennale di Venezia. Settore arti visive e architettura; Biennale di Venezia. Settore arti visive (1895). Catalogo. Getty Research Institute. [Venezia].
  15. "The Catalogue of the annual exhibition at the Carnegie Institute". Hathi Trust Digital Library. 1910. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  16. Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif ) Dept of Fine Arts; Trask, John Ellingwood Donnell; Laurvik, J. Nilsen (John Nilsen) (1915). Catalogue de luxe of the Department of Fine Arts, Panama-Pacific International Exposition. San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco : P. Elder and Company.
  17. ""Rain Cloud, Arizona" studied by art group". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. August 23, 1939. p. 12. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  18. "Albert L. Groll | Smithsonian American Art Museum". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  19. "Acoma Valley / Albert Lorey Groll - Gilcrease Museum". Gilcrease Museum. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  20. "Object record: Harbingers of Rain (also Flying Clouds, Arizona)". University of Arizona Museum of Art. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  21. "San Diego Museum of Art - Rain Clouds, New Mexico". San Diego Museum of Art. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
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