The effect of travel on his work was very noticeable: there was generally a good deal of simplification, more attention to pattern, and a freer and wider sweep of his brush. Sir William Orpen had provided constructive comments which altered Gruner's style. He became less interested in the problems of light and occasionally his work took on a slightly cold aspect. The changes were not always welcomed by his admirers, but Gruner was right not to allow himself to fall into a groove. He held a one-man show in 1927 and, not being a particularly productive artist, was in a position to sell almost everything he produced. Gruner spent much time in finding a suitable subject, and more still in carefully considering it before a brushstroke was made. Later, Gruner became interested in the study of light again, and some excellent work of his last period combined the qualities of his art and his passion. In 1938 he joined and exhibited with Robert Menzies' anti-modernist foundation, the Australian Academy of Art Gruner suffered from chronic nephritis and died at his home at Waverley on 17 October 1939. He was cremated with Anglican rites. He never married but he left descendants in Australia and New Zealand. Wynne Prize awards 1916 – Morning Light 1919 – Spring Frost 1921 – Valley of the Tweed 1929 – On the Murrumbidgee 1934 – Murrumbidgee Ranges, Canberra 1936 – An Australian Landscape 1937 – Weetangera, Canberra Works on exhibition In September 2014, the Gruner painting, untitled but known as The dry road, 1930, was acquired by the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG), from a seller in Sydney. The foreground is dominated by a dusty road and fence behind, running from bottom-left to the middle-right of the picture, with a range of tree-covered mountains behind the mainly treeless valley. It is believed to show a stock route in the Naas Valley in Canberra's south. The main mountain is believed to be Mount Tennent (known to local Indigenous Australians as Tharwa). Selected paintings References External links artcyclopedia Elioth Gruner at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 1882 births 1939 deaths Australian painters Wynne Prize winners 20th-century Belgian painters People from Gisborne, New Zealand Julian Ashton Art School alumni