Frederic Rodrigo Gruger
American illustrator (1871–1953)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
F. R. Gruger
Frederic Rodrigo Gruger | |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Occupations | Illustrator, drawer, painter |
| Signature | |
| |
_(14597970387).jpg)
Life and career
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
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
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]
