Guide to the Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs c1879-2013, MSS 335

Arrangement

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs
Collection Number
MSS 335
Extent
36 linear feet
Date
c1879-2013
Abstract
Aaronel deRoy Gruber (1918-2011) was an internationally recognized artist who spent her career in Pittsburgh. Starting as an abstract painter in the early 1950s, she moved into sculpture and photography over a six-decade career. Skilled in various materials, she became known as an innovator in acrylic and plexiglass. The Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs documents the professional career of Aaronel deRoy Gruber, as well as the respective and combined lives of the DeRoy and Gruber families.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Catelyn Cocuzzi.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

History

Aaronel deRoy Gruber (1918-2011) was an internationally recognized artist who spent her career in Pittsburgh. Starting as an abstract painter in the early 1950s, she moved into sculpture and photography over a six-decade career. Skilled in various materials, she became known as an innovator in acrylic and plexiglass. She exhibited in many one-person and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad. Her work is in more than 800 private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Institution, the DeCordova Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Butler Institute of American Art.

Aaronel deRoy Gruber is from one of the oldest Jewish families in Western Pennsylvania, although she notably capitalized her surname differently than the remainder of her well-known family. Her great-grandparents, Abraham DeRoy (1808-1889) and Saartje Israel "Sarah" van Baalen DeRoy (1812-1896) immigrated to Pittsburgh from Amsterdam in the 1850s with their seven children, Sam, Levy, Emanuel, Betsy, Israel, Joseph, and Kate. According to city directories, Israel and Joseph DeRoy started DeRoy Brothers, a pawnbroking business at 49 Smithfield Street, around 1870. The brothers split in 1898, each starting jewelry and pawnbroking businesses downtown with their respective sons. Israel DeRoy (1847-1935) and his wife Catherine "Kitty" DeHaan (1852-1935) had 10 children, one of which was Aaronel's father, Joseph Israel DeRoy (1874-1934). Joseph I. studied dentistry at the University of Philadelphia. He and his wife, Bessie Leyser DeRoy (1889-1980), of Mississippi, had two children together, Helen and Aaronel. Helen died on January 20, 1915, as an infant. Joseph had one daughter, Marion, from his first marriage to May Herzog. May Herzog died on March 9, 1908.

In 1940, deRoy Gruber earned a Bachelor of Science in Costume Economics from Carnegie Institute of Technology, where she studied design with Robert Lepper, color theory with Wilfred Readio, and painting with Samuel Rosenberg. She also briefly studied at the Traphagen School of Design in New York City and worked as a Fashion Coordinator at Kaufmann's Department Store.

Gruber began her career in art as an abstract painter and was a founding member of the abstract art association Group A. Aaronel married Irving Gruber, who later became president of American Forge and Manufacturing, on January 24, 1940.

deRoy Gruber was inspired to work with steel in the 1960s after being introduced to American abstract sculptor David Smith by Pittsburgh artist and critic Harry Schwalb at an awards dinner following the 1961 Associated Artists of Pittsburgh annual exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Smith encouraged deRoy Gruber to work with steel scraps. Her first forays into sculpture incorporated imposing consolidations of steel scraps, using the resources available to her through American Forge and Manufacturing. In the early 1970s, she began to use plastic in her work and later combined steel and plexiglass. She turned to photography in the late 1980s. Her later work includes black and white infra-red panorama photographs of both landscape and architecture. Her life's work can be found at https://aaronel.com/, a website dedicated to preserving and promoting her legacy. The Irving and Aaronel Gruber Foundation was founded on November 2, 2000 with a mission to support and promote Aaronel deRoy Gruber's work. The Foundation also accepts her works of art.

Irving Gruber (1915-2013) grew up in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh where he attended the Holmes School before graduating from Schenley High School and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). He and Aaronel met at a fraternity party. The young couple settled in Squirrel Hill where they raised their three children, Jon, Jamie and Terry. They eventually relocated to Churchill. Gruber registered for the draft in 1940 but wasn't drafted due to his work in the local steel industry. He worked for National Tube Works during World War II. He and a partner bought American Forge and Manufacturing Company in the North Side of Pittsburgh in the 1940s. The company is notable for its role in building the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Irving stayed on after American Forge and Manufacturing was bought out in the 1960s, but he left the company after it was sold for a second time and started a career in mergers and acquisitions.

Jon Gruber (b.1944) was introduced to art at a young age but didn't pursue a career in the arts. Like his father, the eldest Gruber became a successful businessman and co-founded Gruber and McBaine Capital Management in 1987, a company based out of San Francisco. He later served as a Chairman. Jon married Linda Wyatt of Millville, New Jersey, in 1967 and they had two children, Wyatt and Lindsay Gruber. Jon and Linda raised their children in California.

From a young age, Jamie deRoy (b.1945) showed an interest in theatre and drama. She began acting in school plays while in elementary school before moving on to productions at Camp Fernwood in Oxford, Maine. Like her parents, Jamie attended Carnegie Tech where she studied drama and dance for one year. She moved to New York City where she studied at The American Musical and Drama Academy (AMDA) while pursuing acting gigs. (She eventually dropped Gruber from her name.) Jamie did voiceover work for children's records early in her career before landing as spot in "The Drunkard." Barry Manilow was musical director of that show. During the early sixties, Jamie acted with a troupe in New York City called The Parkway Players and then with The Peninsula Players in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. She also appeared in movies including "Rosemary's Baby" and "Goodfellas." Jamie found her way onto the club and cabaret scene and eventually landed her own cable television show called "Jamie deRoy and Friends." Jamie is a six-time Tony Award winning producer. She was married twice—to Leonard Storch in 1973 and to Bruce Hinlein.

Terry Gruber (b.1953) spent much of his childhood going to art shows and watching his mother paint in her studio. His own artistic ability became apparent as a child after he obtained a camera. Terry documented family trips to New York City as well as the world around him. While studying at Vassar College, he was editor-in-chief of The Vassarian, the school newspaper, and photographed the school's yearbook. Terry's first job was as a photo assistant for celebrity fashion and beauty photographer Francesco Scavullo. He attended Columbia Film school. Martin Scorsese was thesis advisor for his film "Not Just Any Flower." In 1989 Terry founded Gruber Photographers in New York City and has had his photos published in popular magazines like Vogue, Town and Country, and Vanity Fair. He has established himself as a wedding photographer shooting weddings for celebrities such as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Joel, and Padma Lakshmi. Terry married Claudia Brown and they had two children, Timothy and Rose Gruber. Terry and Claudia raised their children in New York.

Scope and Content Notes

The Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs documents the professional career of Aaronel deRoy Gruber, as well as the respective and combined lives of the DeRoy and Gruber families. The bulk of the collection documents deRoy Gruber's artistic career through files maintained by the artist of past exhibits, exhibition programs, contracts and associations, artist's statements, artwork slides, correspondence, publicity, biographies and curricula, and Gruber's personal collection of artworks. Biographies and curricula list her accomplishments as an artist. This information can also be found in clippings and pamphlets.

The papers also document Gruber's participation in Group A, the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, and the Society of Sculptors. Group A, also known as the Abstract Group, is a coalition of artists whose purpose is to advocate for non-objective art in Pittsburgh. The collection includes photographic prints created by Gruber between the 1980s and 2000s of steel mills, landscapes and various scenes in Western Pennsylvania. Photographs and ephemera document the deRoy and Gruber families. Her papers contain materials pertaining to her husband Irving Gruber and their daughter, Jamie deRoy. Materials about the Westmoreland Country Club contain information about the fire on May 2, 1950, and the history of the club. The collection contains materials related the Concordia Club and information about its closure on December 14, 2009.

The Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs have been arranged into six series, five of which have been further arranged into subseries. The contents of each series are arranged alphabetically except for Series II, Subseries 1, 2, 3, which are arranged chronologically from the latest date. Series IV, V, VI and their subseries are arranged chronologically from the earliest date. The series and subseries arrangement are as follows:

Arrangement

The Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs collection has been arranged into the following six series and further arranged into subseries:

  1. Series I. Professional Papers and Photographs (1961-1993)
  2. Subseries 1. Biographies (1961-2012)
  3. Subseries 2. Art Correspondence (1959-2011)
  4. Subseries 3. Press Releases and Publicity (1959-2005)
  5. Subseries 4. Exhibit and Show Files (1959-2011)
  6. Subseries 5. Shows Entered (1973-2000)
  7. Subseries 6. Books (1999-2003)
  8. Subseries 7. Organizations (1954-2010)
  9. Subseries 8. Painting Slides (c1980)
  10. Subseries 9. Sculpture Files (1960-2007)
  11. Subseries 10. Photography (1960-c2006)
  12. Series II. Finances (1953-2010)
  13. Subseries 1. Appraisals and Inventory (1953-2012)
  14. Subseries 2. Donations(1995-2011)
  15. Subseries 3. Expenses (1976-c2005)
  16. Series III. Education (1922-2006)
  17. Series IV. DeRoy Family Papers and Photographs (1879-2008)
  18. Subseries 1. Photographs (1879-1995)
  19. Subseries 2. Papers (1907-2000)
  20. Subseries 3. Correspondence (c1900s-2008)
  21. Subseries 4. Jamie deRoy (1960-2006)
  22. Series V. Aaronel and Irving Gruber (1937-2011)
  23. Subseries 1. Correspondence (1937-1945)
  24. Subseries 2. Papers (1940-2011)
  25. Subseries 3. Photographs (c1918-1994)
  26. Series VI. Gruber Family Papers and Photographs (c1920s-2012)
  27. Subseries 1. Irving Gruber (1932-2008)
  28. Subseries 2. Photographs (c1920s-c2000)
  29. Subseries 3. Papers (1915-2010)
  30. Subseries 4. Correspondence (1932-2012)

Conditions Governing Access

None.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift from Aaronel deRoy Gruber in 1998.

Archives accession # 1998.0195

Gift from Aaronel deRoy Gruber in 2003.

Archives accession # 2003.0219

Gift from Terry Gruber in 2015.

Archives accession # 2015.0122

Preferred Citation

Aaronel deRoy Gruber Papers and Photographs, c1879-2013, MSS 335, Rauh Jewish Archives, Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center

Processing Information

Processing by Catelyn Cocuzzi on 11/20/2019

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Separated Materials

An associated museum collection includes three sculptures and an accompanying model: Alumascape, 2015.51.35 Intersecting, Arcs 2015.51.29 Music Box, 2015.51.30

An associated museum collection includes eight artist tools, an artist palette, a license plate, two sets of dice, a golf tool, and one untitled painting (1965), five Bill Ding toys, two pins, one button, and Bessie deRoy textiles and clothing, 2015.51.

Related Materials

Other collections including materials about the DeRoy family include: Patricia K. and Ralph L. DeRoy Papers and Photograph, MSS 1200 Aronson Family Papers and Photographs, 2019.0112

Subjects

    Geographic Names

    • Churchill (Pa.)
    • Pittsburgh (Pa.)
    • Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • Westmoreland Countt (Pa.)

    Other Subjects

    • Artists-- Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
    • Artists-- Jewish.
    • Faminism.
    • Jews-- Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
    • Photography-- Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
    • Sculptors-- Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
    • Women artists.

Container List