Emily Parker Groom

Emily Parker Groom was an American artist born in Wayland, MA on March 17, 1876. She spent nearly her entire career in Wisconsin. As a child, she received painting lessons from her father. Her early education was unique compared to the primarily German-speaking community of artists in the area. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago with John Vanderpoel, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts under Edmund Tarbull, and participated in the Art Student's League in New York with Birge Harrison. She also trained in London with Frank Brangwyn. Groom became a faculty member at Milwaukee Downer College, organizing the art department as well as teaching undergraduates. She eventually created the art department in 1902. She also taught at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. She took a break from teaching to focus on her painting from 1917-1945 at her studio in Genesee, Wisconsin. She participated in the Public Works Art Project as a planner and exhibiting artist. In 1952 she co-founded the Wisconsin Watercolor Society. Groom's early work reflected an English style and later she employed an impressionistic style to represent the urban and rural landscapes of Wisconsin. She worked in various media, including chalk, charcoal, graphite, pastel, and watercolor and her subjects ranged from flowers to urban and rural landscapes as well as international landscapes. In the 1920s, Groom's work became more focused on watercolor and painting en plein air. Groom was one of the few women of her generation to gain prominence in the art world. She died in Milwaukee in 1975 at the age of 97.