{{Short description|English-born American painter (1930–2018)}} {{Infobox person | name = Pat de Groot | other_names = Patricia de Groot | birth_name = Patricia Richardson | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|06|14}} | birth_place = St John’s Wood, London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|07|26|1930|06|14}} | death_place = Brewster, Massachusetts, U.S. | education = University of Pennsylvania | occupation = Painter, illustrator, book designer | years_active = 1974–2018 (for painting) | spouse = Nanno de Groot (m. 1958–1963; his death) | relatives = George Backer (stepfather) }} '''Pat de Groot''' (née '''Patricia Richardson'''; 1930–2018) was an English-born American painter and illustrator.<ref name="HoarePhilip">{{Cite news |last=Hoare |first=Philip |date=2018-07-31 |title=Pat de Groot obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jul/31/pat-de-groot-obituary |access-date=2024-06-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marquard |first=Bryan |date=July 29, 2018 |title=Pat de Groot, artist and mainstay of Provincetown's art scene, dies at 88 |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/07/29/pat-groot-artist-and-mainstay-provincetown-art-scene-dies/3BmwrOyaOUDtBCWGGBnz5H/story.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Boston Globe |language=en-US}}</ref> She lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts for many years, and was noted for her oil paintings and drawings of seascapes and birds.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Skoyles |first=John |date=October 19, 2003 |title=Expanding Horizons: Provincetown artist Pat de Groot first focused on birds, and she used a kayak as her studio. Later, she moved indoors to paint the larger world of sky and water. |url=https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/10/19/expanding_horizons/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731054506/https://archive.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/10/19/expanding_horizons/ |archive-date=July 31, 2018 |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Boston Globe |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoare |first=Philip |date=2019 |title=Pat de Groot 1930–2018 |journal=Provincetown Arts |volume=34 |pages=149–150 |issn=1053-5012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Micchelli |first=Thomas |date=2014-07-12 |title=A Slice of Pie, a Painting of the Sea |url=http://hyperallergic.com/137101/a-slice-of-pie-a-painting-of-the-sea/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Pat de Groot was born as Patricia Richards on June 14, 1930, in St John’s Wood, London, England, to parents Evelyn "Evie" Straus Weil and Ernald W. A. Richardson.<ref name="HoarePhilip" /><ref name="DunlapDavid">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=July 30, 2018 |title=Pat de Groot, Seascape Painter and Doyenne of the Dunes, Dies at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/obituaries/pat-de-groot-seascape-painter-and-doyenne-of-the-dunes-dies-at-88.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="NYT29">{{Cite news |date=1929-08-25 |title=Evelyn Weil Weds Ernald Richardson; Granddaughter of Late Isidor Straus is Married in Christ Church, Greenwich, Conn. Pair to Live in London |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/08/25/archives/evelyn-weil-weds-ernald-richardson-granddaughter-of-late-isidor.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="NYT71">{{Cite news |date=July 27, 1971 |title=Mrs. Backer Dies; Society Figure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/27/archives/mrs-backerdies-sogiety-figure-hostess-and-decorator-64-was-macy.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She was the great granddaughter of Isidor Straus.<ref name="NYT29" /> Her mother Evelyn Weil worked as an interior designer, with clients such as Truman Capote.<ref name="NYT71" /><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=July 30, 2018 |title=Pat De Groot (1930–2018) |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/pat-de-groot-1930-2018-239906/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}}</ref> Her father Ernald W. A. Richardson came from high social class, and served in the Queen's Regiment.<ref name="DunlapDavid" /><ref name="NYT58">{{Cite news |date=June 16, 1958 |title=Miss Richardson, U. of P. Alumna Bride of Painter |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/06/16/91392760.html?pageNumber=20 |url-access=subscription |work=The New York Times |page=20 |via=Times Machine}}</ref> Her parents divorced when she was a child, and in 1940 she moved to New York City, New York, United States.<ref name="HoarePhilip" /><ref name="DunlapDavid" /> In 1947, her mother Eve Weil married George Backer, the publisher of the New York Post.<ref name="HoarePhilip" />
Richardson received a B.A. degree in 1953 in literature from the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name="DunlapDavid" />
== Career == After graduation from college, she worked with George Plimpton at ''The Paris Review'' in Paris; then moved to New York City to design book covers for the publishing company Farrar, Straus and Giroux.<ref name="DunlapDavid" /> She had also apprenticed under the book designer Marshall Lee at the H. Wolff Book Manufacturing Company in New York City.
In 1946, Richards started making visits to Provincetown, Massachusetts.<ref name="DunlapDavid" /> She met her future husband, painter Nanno de Groot in Provincetown in 1956, and they wed in 1958.<ref name="DunlapDavid" /><ref name="NYT58" /> Together they built a house in Provincetown on the Harriet Adams’ land on Commercial Street, it was completed in 1962.<ref name="DunlapDavid" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Ann |date=August 2, 2018 |title=Pat de Groot, one of the last bohemians, dies at 88 |url=https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/provincetown-banner/2018/08/02/pat-de-groot-one-last/11171278007/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Wicked Local |publisher=Provincetown Banner |language=en-US}}</ref> Months later in 1963, her husband Nanno de Groot died of lung cancer.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 28, 1963 |title=Nanno F. de Groot Dead; Painted Cape Cod Scenes |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/12/28/81831920.html?pageNumber=23 |url-access=subscription |work=The New York Times |pages=23 |via=Times Machine}}</ref>
Her parties in Provincetown in the 1960s and 1970s attracted celebrities, musicians, and artists.<ref name="HoarePhilip" /> Her long-term lover was jazz drummer Elvin Jones.<ref name="HoarePhilip" /> De Groot also would rent out a room in her house in the summer to visiting creative people, such as John Waters, Philip Hoare, and painter Richard Baker.<ref name="DunlapDavid" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Ann |date=May 26, 2016 |title=Beyond the horizon |url=https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/provincetown-banner/2016/05/26/beyond-horizon/21811286007/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Wicked Local |publisher=Provincetown Banner |language=en-US}}</ref>
De Groot never had formal training in fine art, and started to seriously purse the field in 1974, at the age of 44.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Ken |date=2000-04-21 |title=Art In Review; Pat de Groot |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/21/arts/art-in-review-pat-de-groot.html |access-date=2024-06-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=Summer 1987 |title=Tough Lady |journal=Provincetown Arts |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=28–31 |issn=1053-5012}}</ref> In 2000, she had her first solo exhibition in New York City of small seascape oil paintings at the Pat Hearn Gallery.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yau |first=John |date=March 2001 |title=Drawing lessons from Pat De Groot |journal=Art on Paper |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=62–65 |issn=1521-7922}}</ref> In 2002, she was awarded the Anonymous Was A Woman Award;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Recipients to Date |url=https://www.anonymouswasawoman.org/previous-recipients |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Anonymous Was A Woman |language=en-US}}</ref> and in 2007 she was awarded the Lee Krasner Award from Pollock-Krasner Foundation. She had a survey exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Samet |first=Jennifer |date=2013-09-07 |title=Beer with a Painter: Pat de Groot |url=http://hyperallergic.com/82426/beer-with-a-painter-pat-de-groot/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref>
She died of a stroke on July 26, 2018, in Brewster, Massachusetts, U.S..<ref name="HoarePhilip" /><ref name="DunlapDavid" /> De Groot has an artist file at the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library.
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:de Groot, Pat}} Category:1930 births Category:2018 deaths Category:20th-century American women painters Category:20th-century American painters Category:21st-century American women painters Category:21st-century American painters Category:American women painters Category:People from Provincetown, Massachusetts Category:People from St John's Wood Category:Straus family Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:21st-century American illustrators Category:20th-century American illustrators