Gruppe was born in 1896, his father was Charles Gruppe, a well known painter also. Emile studied art at the National Academy and with John Fabian Carlson and George Bridgeman. In his early 30s he was already well known for his post-impressionist paintings of New England. For many years he operated the Gruppe Summer School in Gloucester, MA, but he often wintered in Florida. His work is in museums and galleries world wide. He wrote and illustrated three books on painting, I treasure my copies of each of them. Gruppe died in 1978.