Art Museum. Steele’ s paintings at this time show a solid sense of form, and an inventive and dramatic sense of light, especially backlighting.
Adams, Forsythe, and Steele had a successful group show with the Art Association of Indianapolis in 1885 before returning from Europe. With a new generation of local art schools, art galleries, art critics, art buyers, and associations, artists were no longer limited to New York or Philadelphia for their livelihood. Chicago critics responded ecstatically to paintings by Steele and the Hoosier Group, recognizing a truly American expression in painting that held its own against modern European painters. The Hoosier Group painters helped found the Society of Western Artists with artists from six major regional cities. The group held annual exhibits in each city on a rotating basis for years to come.
In the fall of 1898, Steele and Adams purchased a house in Brookville, Indiana, near the Whitewater River, which served as a summer studio for the next ten years. While Steele worked diligently on portraiture to support his family during his winter months in Indianapolis, his landscape painting came into its own with the continuity of a permanent home base and a loyalty to a local American landscape.
By 1907, after the death of his first wife and the marriage of his last child at home, Steele married his second wife, Selma, and relocated to acreage in Brown County. His residence became a magnet for artists around the state and region, and an exemplar for other regional painting groups in the Midwest.
As city dwellers, the newlywed couple took time adjusting to the rudimentary facilities in their new home. To avoid the isolation caused by primitive roads, they continued to winter in Indianapolis. Still, every spring their surroundings burst into flower in an irresistible way, inspiring the paintings Steele is famous for today.
In 1922, shortly before his death, Indiana University awarded him a studio on campus and a position as artist-in-residence, offering a stipend without any formal teaching duties.
Steele work can be seen in dozens of examples on the IU campus, at the Brown County Art Gallery’ s permanent collections, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and in private collections across the country. He forged a modern American painting style that was years ahead of its time, depicting uniquely local scenes in a manner distilled from the latest European teaching. He took on the mantle of Impressionism, not as a vow of obedience, but using only the tools he required to describe his favored landscape in a brilliant, personal idiom all his own.
“ Atumnal Landscape” courtesy of Indiana Historical Society
T. C. Steele Great Outdoor Art Contest participant. photo by Cindy Steele
The T. C. Steele State Historic Site is part of the Indiana State Musem system and is located one and a half mile south of Belmont, off State Road 46, nine miles west of Nashville. Steele’ s house, studio, and grounds are open to the public.( 812) 988-2785. •
Sept./ Oct. 2015 • Our Brown County 51