The exhibit, mountedon the second floor, displays Groom’s small-scale paintings and drawings forclose, intimate appraisal. Groom is a painter who discovered art during heryouth, a significant choice for a woman born in 1875. Her oils, dating from1906, depict floral still lifes, including the bold brush strokes and soft,flowering petals of White Peonies in BlueVase (1920).
Groom’s transitionto watercolor later in her career created an even more intriguing style, as sheportrayed both urban and rural landscapes using a wet-on-wet technique thatretains a timeless, contemporary element. MelsetterHouse, Hoy (1940-1950)shows anincredible ability to form the white space and incorporate the original ragtexture on the watercolor paper to depict the stucco exterior. Translucentcolors layered around this space splash the roof, sky and lawn into an imagethat deftly defines the country homestead.
Impressionistictechniques gleaned from an education with American painters Edmund Tarbell andFrank Benson evoke abstract tension in Groom’s Genesee Farm on Hwy ZZ (1955).Her fluidly painted pear tree bough hangs from the picture’s top edge, aframe to shade the houses sculpted from the ivory paper below the branches thatmay be seen in the distance.
Throughout hereight-decade career, Groom’s free-flowing brush created vibrant hues streakedin spontaneous emotion, and depicted landscapes that still feel vital and fresheven decades later. In addition to the rural Wisconsinscenery that often captured Groom’s attention, a trip to Guatemala inthe ’40s also served as inspiration for a series of portraits rendered in chalkand charcoal.
Groom lived in ahouse on Milwaukee’sCambridge Avenuefrom 1890 until her death in 1975, just short of her 100th birthday. Thispioneer in Wisconsin art, who co-founded the Wisconsin Watercolor Society in1952, deserves the attention provided by the CharlesAllis Art Museum in an exhibit that celebrates her longevity and talent,as well as the rare, impressive focus that Groom sustained to promote art in Wisconsin.