A WEEK OF GRUGER, day 5

OK, so these posts spilled over into more than a week, but here are some more scans from original Gruger drawings that show his masterful draftsmanship.

Gruger uses foliage to add abstract design to his drawing. (from "He'll Come Home," Saturday Evening Post, March 1929)

Gruger spent 45 years working long hours, creating thousands of complex pictures using not much more than a pencil.  He found infinite variety in the marks of carbon on paper.

Saturday Evening Post, April 10, 1926

Gruger constructed face after face, employing a full variety of features.

Gruger was an original member of the "charcoal club" founded by John Sloan in 1893.  There, Gruger worked nightly alongside other young artists such as Robert Henri, William Glackens and Everett Shin in a vacant studio, exploring the glories of charcoal.

And in the right hands, charcoal is truly a glorious thing.