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ALPINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Alpine, California |
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JUSTIN C. GRUELLE, ARTIST/ILLUSTRATOR Justin Gruelle was the youngest son of R. B. Gruelle, who was one of the “famous four” original Hoosier artists, and would emulate his father’s fine art style by working in watercolors and oils. Justin became a masterful portrait artist as well as a landscape artist. He was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration to do murals, eight of which are in the Collection of WPA murals in Norwalk, Connecticut. Murals by Justin Gruelle have been on display in the Smithsonian and in museums from Norwalk, Connecticut to San Diego, California. In 1970 his mural “Early Birds”, shown above, was hung in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s Art Wing in Washington, D.C. This mural traces the history of aviation. Justin and his wife Mabel came to Alpine in 1955 and purchased a home on Lilac Lane off of Alpine Heights Road. A visit to his studio convinced the visitor that here was an artist of real stature and amazing versatility. His works range through illustration, huge murals for public buildings and institutions, advertising and publicity art, landscapes and portraits in oils and watercolors. He wrote and illustrated a very popular book for children, “A Mother Goose Parade”. Justin also illustrated some of his brother Johnny Gruelle’s “Raggedy Ann” and “Raggedy Andy” books. In 1936, artist Justin Gruelle was commissioned to paint six canvases called the Mark Twain illustrations for the library of the former Center School, in Norwalk, Connecticut. The Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administation (WPA) was established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in mid-1935. The nation was in an economic depression; millions were unemployed. The WPA's mission was to take 3.5 milion people off relief and put them to work. Within a year, some 5,000 artists were busy on WPA. The Federal Art Project was not intended to create great and lasting art; that was a happy by product. During the eight year life of the project, the government's New Deal for artists never employed more than 20 percent of the nation's artists and art teachers. But these paid-by-the-hour craftspersons produced an astonishing array of work: 108,099 canvasses, some quarter-million prints of over 11,000 original designs, and 17,844 pieces of sculpture. Of all the WPA art projects, murals constituted the smallest part of the artistic effort. Just 2,566 murals were painted for public buildings. Sadly, less than 25 years after the WPA era, most of the federal art had been lost or destroyed. Countless murals were painted over, while the largely uncatalogued easel paintings disappeared in private offices, moldered in storerooms or were used to fuel incinerators. Fortunately, in Norwalk, thanks to the foresight of various city agencies including the Historical Commission which was aided by a grant from the federal General Services Administration, the community's long neglected WPA murals were rescued before they had deteriorated too greatly to permit restoration. The following WPA murals, by Justin Gruelle, are on display at the Norwalk Transit District, Norwalk City Hall, Norwalk Community College, Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk and the Norwalk Public Library. MURALS BY JUSTIN GRUELLE
RAGGEDY ANN'S UNCLE by Albert Simonson What do Alpine’s Historical Museum and its Catholic church have in common with Washington’s Smithsonian Institution? Answer - paintings by local artist Justin Gruelle.
Justin’s large mural of pioneer aviators was hung near the left wing of Lindberg’s “Spirit of Saint Louis” at the Smithsonian.
Created 12/2006; Revised 3/2007 |
