Richard B. Gruelle
1851-1914

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Richard B. Gruelle
Biography

Richard Gruelle was described by Jacob Dunn as "the most absolutely untaught artist who ever did really good work in the vicinity" in his "History of Greater Indianapolis" (485). Gruelle was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky to John and Prudence Gruelle, the youngest of the eight boys and three girls. Both there and in Arcola, Illinois, where the family moved six years later, young Richard drew on "everything he could find," and apparently, any time and all the time. His teachers were constantly reprimanding him for drawing during class. But with the whole-hearted encouragement of his mother, he would draw up scenes for his own "panorama shows," charging his friends and neighbors "five pins" to see his primitive "slide shows" of scenes of the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac.

Brown County Art Colony

 

The Brown County Art Colony was formed in the early 1900s by artists who were attracted by the undisturbed picturesque landscape known as Peaceful Valley.  T.C. Steele was the first to become a resident of the county when he purchased 200 acres near Belmont. Adolph Shulz is considered to be the founder of the Brown County Art Colony.  He began visiting Brown County in 1908 and in 1917 became a permanent resident. Both Adolph Shulz and T.C. Steele influenced other artists and many began building cabins and moving to the area.  Will Vawter and Gustave Baumann were among the first to make Brown County their home.  Other artists such as Charles Dahlgreen, Lucie Hartrath, and L.O. Griffith came from Chicago and by the early 1930s there were at least eighteen artists with permanent homes in Brown County.  Artists such as C. Curry Bohm, Edward K. Williams, Ada Walter Shulz, Carl Graf, V.J. Cariani, Gustav Baumann, Will Vawter, Dale Bessire, Georges LaChance, Marie Goth, Leota Loop, Adam Emory Albright, Olive Rush, and Alexis Fournier flourished and created the Brown County Art Colony nearly 100 years ago.

 

Sources:

 

Letsinger-Miller, Lyn. The Artists of Brown County . Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994.

 

Nesbit, M. Joanne, ed., Barbara Judd, comp. Those Brown County Artists: The Ones Who Came the Ones Who Stayed the Ones Who Moved On . Nashville: Nana’s Book, 1993.

 

WE BUY AND SELL PAINTINGS BY
Richard B. Gruelle

 

We are very interested in purchasing Richard B. Gruelle paintings.
Please give us a call or send an e-mail.

 

812.327.0401

info@indianaartcollector.com

 

We also buy paintings from the following Brown County artists:

 

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