Frederic Rodrigo Gruger
Frederic Rodrigo Gruger | |
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| Born | August 2, 1871 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 21, 1953 (aged 81) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Frederick Rodrigo Gruger, F. R. Gruger |
| Occupation(s) | Illustrator, drawer, painter |
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Frederic Rodrigo Gruger (August 2, 1871 – March 21, 1953), also known as F. R. Gruger, was an American illustrator and genre painter.[1][2][3] He is best known for his prolific illustration work for The Saturday Evening Post.[4][5] The School of Gruger is a term used to describe a movement of illustrators and drawers from the late 1920s in Philadelphia, because his work was of great influence.[4]
Life and career
[edit]Frederic Rodrigo Gruger was born on August 2, 1871, in Philadelphia.[1] His parents were Rebecca (née Rodrigo) and John Peter Gruger.[1] His younger brother John William Gruger (1874–1934) also worked as an illustrator.[6] Gruger attended high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.[1][7]
He graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,[1] where he studied under Thomas Pollock Anshutz and Henry Joseph Thouron (1851–1915).[8]
From 1898 until the early 1940s, he created over 6,000 illustrations, including 2,700 for The Saturday Evening Post.[3] At the height of his career he lived in Avon, New Jersey and had an art studio in New York City.[1]
Death and legacy
[edit]Gruger died on March 21, 1953, in New York City.[3][9]
The Frederic Rodrigo Gruger collection can be found at the Archives at Yale, at Yale University.[10] In 1981, he posthumously was entered into the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame.[3]
Collections
[edit]Gruger's artwork can be found in museum collections, including at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in Providence, Rhode Island;[11] the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania; the Syracuse University Art Museum in Syracuse, New York;[12] the University Art Museum at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico; the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware;[13] and the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Leonard, John W.; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1928). "Gruger, Frederic Rodrigo". Who's Who in America. Marquis Who's Who. p. 921.
- ^ "Gruger, Frederic Rodrigo". Artists of the World (AOW). Walter de Gruyter GmbH. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ a b c d "F.R. Gruger". Society of Illustrators. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ a b Doyle, Susan; Grove, Jaleen; Sherman, Whitney (February 22, 2018). History of Illustration. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-5013-4211-0.
- ^ Apatoff, David (August 15, 2017). "The Art of the Post: The Secret Illustration Techniques of Frederic Gruger". The Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ "J. William Gruger". The New York Times. August 16, 1934. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ Mellquist, Jerome (1969). The Emergence of an American Art. Kennikat Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-8046-0574-8.
- ^ Perlman, Bennard B. (1978). The Golden Age of American Illustration: F. R. Gruger and His Circle. North Light Publishers. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-89134-011-9.
- ^ "F. R. Gruger; Magazine Artist; Illustrator for Years, Known for Historical Detail, Worked on Judge Priest Stories". The New York Times (Obituary). March 22, 1953. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ "Frederic Rodrigo Gruger collection". Archives at Yale. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ "Sweat and Iron". RISD Museum. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ "Frederic Rodrigo Gruger". Syracuse University Art Museum. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ "Frederic Rodrigo Gruger". Delaware Art Museum. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
- ^ "Frederic Rodrigo Gruger". Spencer Museum of Art. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
External links
[edit]
- Frederic Rodrigo Gruger collection, Archives at Yale
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