American, 1866 - 1952
Albert Groll was the son of a druggist who had immigrated to New York from Darmstadt. An uncle who was a lithographer, Frederic Gross, remained in that German city. When young Albert traveled abroad to study it was, naturally, to Darmstadt. He then went to Munich, where for three or four years he pursued the classical course of study in figure painting at the Royal Academy, studying with Nicholas Gysis and Ludwig von Löfftz, and independently developing his skill in his preferred subject, landscape. Altogether, Groll was abroad for seven years; he returned to New York in about 1890 as an accomplished landscape painter. Clearly he spent some of that time in and near Paris, for Groll's initial professional work owed much to the French Barbizon artists.
Groll found his subjects in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in Rockaway Beach, on Long Island, in Prospect and Central parks in New York, in Pennsylvania, and in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In his early work he strove to capture the atmospheric effects of various times of day, reflecting the influence of the French and of Homer Dodge Martin, whose work he much admired. In about 1900 he turned to composing landscape subjects in terms of color, giving them titles such as Symphony in Gold or Nocturne in Green and Silver-strongly suggesting emulation of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. In 1905 these works were exhibited to considerable critical approval at the Clausen Art Gallery in New York.
A radical and lasting change occurred in Groll's art when in 1906, at the invitation of Professor Stewart Culin of the Brooklyn Museum, he made the first of what would become yearly visits to the Southwest. The landscapes-more particularly, the desert skies-of Arizona and New Mexico became his focus. These western scenes with their low horizons and sweeping skies, done in a high-keyed palette were introduced at the Schaus Art Gallery, New York, in 1906. Major solo exhibitions of his southwestern landscapes, some done in tempera, were held at the Macbeth Galleries, New York, in 1927, and at the Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, in 1948.
Groll was an early and consistent winner of prizes, among them the Salmagundi Club's Shaw Prize, in 1903 and 1904, and silver medals in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 in Saint Louis and the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. The Academy awarded him its George Inness Gold Medal in the annual exhibition of 1912.
The Taos Society of Artists elected Groll an associate member in 1919, making him one of the few painters invited to join the founders of that organization. In 1932 he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Groll maintained a studio in New York's Gainsborough Building.
Groll found his subjects in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in Rockaway Beach, on Long Island, in Prospect and Central parks in New York, in Pennsylvania, and in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In his early work he strove to capture the atmospheric effects of various times of day, reflecting the influence of the French and of Homer Dodge Martin, whose work he much admired. In about 1900 he turned to composing landscape subjects in terms of color, giving them titles such as Symphony in Gold or Nocturne in Green and Silver-strongly suggesting emulation of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. In 1905 these works were exhibited to considerable critical approval at the Clausen Art Gallery in New York.
A radical and lasting change occurred in Groll's art when in 1906, at the invitation of Professor Stewart Culin of the Brooklyn Museum, he made the first of what would become yearly visits to the Southwest. The landscapes-more particularly, the desert skies-of Arizona and New Mexico became his focus. These western scenes with their low horizons and sweeping skies, done in a high-keyed palette were introduced at the Schaus Art Gallery, New York, in 1906. Major solo exhibitions of his southwestern landscapes, some done in tempera, were held at the Macbeth Galleries, New York, in 1927, and at the Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, in 1948.
Groll was an early and consistent winner of prizes, among them the Salmagundi Club's Shaw Prize, in 1903 and 1904, and silver medals in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 in Saint Louis and the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. The Academy awarded him its George Inness Gold Medal in the annual exhibition of 1912.
The Taos Society of Artists elected Groll an associate member in 1919, making him one of the few painters invited to join the founders of that organization. In 1932 he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Groll maintained a studio in New York's Gainsborough Building.
