Gruelle, Justin C. (1889-1978) Justin Gruelle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1889. His father was the noted landscape painter Richard B. Gruelle, and his brother, Johnny Gruelle, was a popular illustrator and creator of the Raggedy Ann books. His sister Prudence Gruelle Brown (1884–1966) was an author and sang for a time with the Aborn Opera Company, but sometime around 1910 she went on the vaudeville circuit as "Prudence Grue, The Singing Cartoonist." Justin attended Public School #15 and graduated from Arsenal Technical High School at age seventeen. He studied art with his father from an early age, and moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League. After a year he returned to the Midwest and worked for various newspapers. In 1910 Gruelle moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. He became a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and kept a studio in the Bishop Building in Norwalk. He wrote and illustrated several children’s books, most notably A Mother Goose Parade. He had two children, a boy and a girl, with his wife Mabel Brown. He worked for the Public Works of Art Project and later, the WPA Federal Arts Project. Under the WPA, he completed one easel work and seven mural panels. His work was allocated to Fairfield State Hospital, Central Jr. High School in Norwalk, and the Little Red Schoolhouse in New Canaan. Later in his life Gruelle moved to California where he died in 1978. [Source CT State Library.]
Gruelle, Justin C. (1889-1978) Justin Gruelle was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1889. His father was the noted landscape painter Richard B. Gruelle, and his brother, Johnny Gruelle, was a popular illustrator and creator of the Raggedy Ann books. His sister Prudence Gruelle Brown (1884–1966) was an author and sang for a time with the Aborn Opera Company, but sometime around 1910 she went on the vaudeville circuit as "Prudence Grue, The Singing Cartoonist." Justin attended Public School #15 and graduated from Arsenal Technical High School at age seventeen. He studied art with his father from an early age, and moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League. After a year he returned to the Midwest and worked for various newspapers. In 1910 Gruelle moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. He became a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and kept a studio in the Bishop Building in Norwalk. He wrote and illustrated several children’s books, most notably A Mother Goose Parade. He had two children, a boy and a girl, with his wife Mabel Brown. He worked for the Public Works of Art Project and later, the WPA Federal Arts Project. Under the WPA, he completed one easel work and seven mural panels. His work was allocated to Fairfield State Hospital, Central Jr. High School in Norwalk, and the Little Red Schoolhouse in New Canaan. Later in his life Gruelle moved to California where he died in 1978. [Source CT State Library.]
Gravesite Details
His cremains are interred with no marker at Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana in the Gruelle family plot next to his wife, Mabel and parents, Alice and Richard B. Gruelle.
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