Oliver Dennett Grover–“A Vista of California Sunshine and Flowers,” Oil on Canvas, 1916

Oliver Dennett Grover was born in Earlville, Illinois and moved to Chicago as a child. He studied locally at the Chicago Academy of Design before traveling to Europe for further studies in places including Munich and Paris. He joined the Art Institute of Chicago in 1887 and was a founding member of the Eagle’s Nest Art Colony. Grover painted landscapes, portraits, and murals. He won several prizes over the years, including the Yerkes Prize in 1892, and the Kahn Prize in 1913. Some of Grover’s murals can be seen at the rotunda of the James Blackstone Memorial Library Branford, Connecticut, and that of the Blackstone Branch of the Chicago Public Library.