Elioth Gruner
Encyclopedia
Elioth Lauritz Leganyer Gruner, early anglicised from Grüner (16 December 1882 – 17 October 1939), was an Australian painter, winner of the Wynne Prize
Wynne Prize
The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. One of Australia's longest running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne...

 seven times.

Early life

Gruner was born in Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, younger son of Elliott Grüner, a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

-born bailiff, and his Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 wife Mary Ann, who died in 1922. Gruner was brought to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 before he was a year old and at an early age showed a desire to draw. When about 12 years old his mother took him to Julian Ashton
Julian Ashton
Julian Rossi Ashton was an Australian artist and teacher, known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney....

 who gave him his first lessons in art. At 14 years of age he obtained a position in a shop where he worked from 7.40 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. to help to maintain the household after his father and older brother died.

Artistic career

Gruner managed to do some painting on weekends, and in the year 1901, began to send work to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists at Sydney. From around 1907 his work began to attract serious attention, one admirer was Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was an Australian artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist, scale modeler, and boxer. He was born in Creswick, Victoria....

. In 1911 a small shop was started in Bligh-street, Sydney, to sell works of art produced in Australia and for a time Gruner took charge of it. He then became an assistant to Julian Ashton at the Sydney Art School, and during Ashton's illness took complete charge of the classes for about three months. In 1916 he was the winner of the Wynne art prize with a small landscape "Morning Light" which was purchased by the national gallery of New South Wales. Gruner was the winner of the Wynne prize again in 1919, and in the following year the trustees commissioned him to paint a large picture for the gallery "The Valley of the Tweed". Though this was awarded the Wynne prize in 1921 and is a capable work it scarcely ranks among his best efforts. He seldom afterwards took anything larger than a 24-inch canvas.

In 1923 Gruner visited Europe and was away for around two years. The effect of travel on his work was very noticeable. There was generally a good deal of simplification, more attention to pattern, and a freer and wider sweep of his brush. Sir William Orpen
William Orpen
Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, KBE, RA, RHA was an Irish portrait painter, who worked mainly in London...

had provided constructive comments on his work which altered Gruner's style. Gruner was less interested in the problems of light and occasionally his work took on a slightly cold aspect. The changes were not always welcomed by his admirers, but Gruner was right not to allow himself to fall into a groove. Gruner held a one man show in 1927, but he was not a very productive artist and therefore was in a position to sell almost everything he produced. Gruner spent much time in finding a suitable subject, and more still in carefully considering it before a brushstroke was made. Gruner became interested in the study of light again, and some excellent work of his latest period combined the qualities of his art and his passion.

Gruner suffered from chronic nephritis and died at his home at Waverley on 17 October 1939. He was cremated with Anglican rites.

Wynne Prize wins

  • 1916 - Morning Light
  • 1919 - Spring Frost
  • 1921 - Valley of the Tweed
  • 1929 - On the Murrumbidgee
  • 1934 - Murrumbidgee Ranges, Canberra
  • 1936 - An Australian Landscape
  • 1937 - Weetangera, Canberra
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