Artist Biographies
Grace Albee
1890 - 1985 | Estate Artist
Grace Albee produced over two hundred prints in a fifty year career span
as a wood engraver and became noted as a keen observer of the world around
her, be it local scenery of Paris, Pennsylvania farm country, or the Rhode
Island sea coast. Albee was first exposed to wood engraving as a child
when looking though her grandfather's old books. A precise and exacting
personality such as Grace's was inclined toward this painstaking and meticulous
medium.
Despite her father's disdain for the frivolous art world, the young woman attended Rhode island School of Design and there met her artist husband, Percy, sealing her art destiny. It was in 1928 that the Albees departed Providence and enthusiastically made their way to the artistic mecca of Paris. The young mother of five boys managed to take her first and only lesson in wood engraving with Paul Bornet. From this point onward, Grace immersed herself in the wood engraving medium and would pursue with no further instruction other than her own experimentation and self-tutelage. Further into her career Grace Albee became known for imagery not about humanity but rather, the effects of human habitation in the country and city and was accepted in the prestigious National Academy of Design.