Painter and printmaker James Groff, born in Kankakee, Illinois, on March 7, 1937. While still in high school, he took courses at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1953. He studied painting and printmaking at Southern Illinois University where he graduated with his B.A. in 1959, and then with his M.F.A. in 1961. He first participated in an exhibition in 1959 with the American Society of Printmakers in New York, NY, and therafter exhibited in both group and solo shows regularly.

He lived for a time in Jamaica, New York with his wife, Maria, before settling in Houston, Texas around 1970. There he had both a painting studio and a printmaking workshop. Though he was a prolific painter, Groff's printed work does not appear to have been catalogued and is generally difficult to locate. His interest in printmaking and mention of his personal press was discovered in a letter found enclosed in a caopy of James Groff: Fossils, Fragments, Findings, a catalogue of his paintings published by Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Gallery, Texas, in the 1990s. He was also listed in the 1985/86 Printworld Directory of Contemporary Prints and Prices, Third Edition.

James Groff died in Houston, Texas on September 26, 1998. 

Selected Group Exhibitions:
1959: American Society of Printmakers, New York, NY
1960: "Printmakers of America International Traveling Show," Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1961: Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), Chicago, IL; Xavier University, New Orleans, LA; Southern Illinois University (SIU) Gallery, Carbondale, IL; "Young Americans Show," Addison Gallery, Andover, MA
1975: Ars Longa Galleries, Houston, TX
1977, '81: Sol Rio Gallery
1983, '84, '85: "Texas Printmakers," Clifford Gallery, Dallas, TX
1983: Jan Weiner Gallery, Topeka, KS; Associated American Artists, Philadelphia, PA
1984: "New Works," Gallery One, Fort Worth, TX; "Contemporary Printmakers," Meredith Gallery, Baltimore, MD; Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
1985: Malton Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
1985, '87: William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, TX
1986, '87, '88, '91-'94: Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Houston, TX
1988: VanStraaten Gallery, Chicago, IL; "Rockhurst Invitational," Rockhurt College, Kansas City, MO
1989, '90, '91: Chicago International Art Exposition
1989 - 1995, : Charles Whitechurch Fine Art, Huntington Beach, CA
1990: Nichols & Ward Fine Art, Mission Viejo, CA
1991: Colmin Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1992: Gerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC; "33rd Annual Invitational Works on Paper," Longview Museum and Arts Center, Longview, TX
1995: Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, TX

Selected Solo Shows: 
1969: Mill Gallery, Tinton Falls, NJ 
1977, '83: DuBose Gallery
1977, '78: University of Houston (UoH), TX 
1978: O'Kane Gallery, UoH, TX 
1984: Harcourts Contemporary Gallery, San Francisco, CA; 
1984, '85: Galerie Simmone Stern, New Orleans, LA
1986: Clifford Gallery, Dallas, TX
1990, '95: Gremillion & Co. Fine Art, Dallas, TX; Trinity Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
1994: Macon & Co. Fine Art, Atlanta, GA