Theodore Steele Drawings: Colour Plates E-Book

Maria Peitcheva

• Herausgeber: Maria Peitcheva
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Theodore Clement Steele (1847 – 1926) was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes. Steele was an innovator and leader in American Midwest painting and is considered to be the most important of Indiana's Hoosier Group painters. In addition to painting, Steele contributed writings, public lectures, and hours of community service on art juries that selected entries for national and international exhibitions, most notably the Universal Exposition (1900) in Paris, France, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) in Saint Louis, Missouri. He was also involved in organizing pioneering art associations, such as the Society of Western Artists.

Leseprobe

Theodore Steele

Drawings: Colour Plates

By Maria Peitcheva

First Edition

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Theodore Steele: DrawingsColour Plates

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Copyright © 2016Maria Peitcheva

Foreword

Theodore Clement Steele (1847 – 1926) was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes. Steele was an innovator and leader in American Midwest painting and is considered to be the most important of Indiana's Hoosier Group painters. In addition to painting, Steele contributed writings, public lectures, and hours of community service on art juries that selected entries for national and international exhibitions, most notably the Universal Exposition (1900) in Paris, France, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) in Saint Louis, Missouri. He was also involved in organizing pioneering art associations, such as the Society of Western Artists.

Steele was born near Gosport in Owen County, Indiana, on September 11, 1847. Steele’s father was a saddle maker and farmer. In 1852 the family moved to Waveland in Montgomery County, Indiana, where Steele developed an interest in art and learned to draw. Steele began formal art training as a boy at the Waveland Collegiate Institute. At sixteen, he continued his art training at AsburyCollege in Greencastle, Indiana. Steele also studied briefly in Chicago, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio, before returning to Indiana to paint portraits on commission.

In 1870 Steele married Mary Elizabeth Lakin. The couple moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, where a son Rembrandt, was born in 1870, and a daughter Daisy, was born in 1872. Soon after Daisy’s birth the family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. Although it was difficult, Steele managed to support his family by painting commissioned portraits and commercial signs. Another son, Shirley, was born in 1879.To help Steele obtain additional art training in Europe, his friend and art patron, Herman Lieber, arranged to provide financial support for the family so Steele could study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. In 1880 the Steele family sailed to Europe with fellow Hoosiers J. Ottis Adams, Carrie Wolf, August Metzner, and Samuel Richards. The group was joined two years later by Hoosier artist William Forsyth. In addition to training at the Royal Academy under the instruction of artists Gyula Benczúr and Ludwig Löfftz, Steele spent hours studying paintings of the Old Masters in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek galleries. He also painted in the countryside with his family and other artists, including Boston landscape painter J. Frank Currier. Steele enjoyed plein air, or outdoor painting, which is reflected in many of his landscapes. At Steele’s request, his sponsors extended their financial support so that he could continue studies in Munich for two more years. Steele also used funds earned from painting copies of Old Masters to pay for several additional months before the family returned to Indiana in 1885.

Upon their return to Indianapolis, Steele kept a studio downtown, where he could paint and display his work while he earned a living primarily as a portrait painter and art teacher. Around 1886 Steele had a studio built on the Tinker property, and the home, already an Indianapolis landmark, became a hub for the local arts community.

Steele’s paintings showed a notable change in style after his return from Munich. Steele’s Munich paintings sported dark, drab colors and high contrasts, but his work in Indiana gradually shifted toward a brighter, more vivid color palette. His paintings included both urban and rural scenes and depicted changes of season as well as weather conditions of snow, rain, and sunshine. Steele also painted in Vermont and Tennessee, where he had taken his wife in hopes of improving her health.

The 1890s were a turning point in Steele’s career. In 1890 Steele published The Steele Portfolio, which contained twenty-five photogravure prints of his paintings, including The Boatman, his prize-winning student work from Munich. In 1891 Forsyth joined Steele as an instructor at the IndianaArtSchool, which Steele established in 1889. Steele continued to teach there until 1895, before returning to painting on a full-time basis. Throughout the 1890s Steele painted landscapes during the warm months and returned to a winter studio to paint portraits, still his primary source of income. In addition, Steele actively exhibited his work, delivered lectures, and helped organize the Society of Western Artists, whose annual exhibition attracted national attention.

The new century marked a number of changes in Steele’s life. In 1900 he received an honorary master of arts degree from WabashCollege in Crawfordsville, Indiana. That same year the Art Association of Indianapolis received a large donation from John Herron to establish a museum and art school in the city. The association selected the Tinker mansion, Steele’s home in Indianapolis, and purchased the property from his landlord. Steele’s art studio became the first Herron School of Art.

As Steele explored new places to paint, he discovered an isolated area of Brown County, Indiana, where he built a hilltop studio-home on sixty acres near Belmont. In August 1907 Steele married Selma Neubacher, his daughter’s sister-in-law, and brought her to their new summer home in BrownCounty. Slowly, over time, Steele was financially able to develop the property and eventually made it a full-time residence. Steele kept a studio in Indianapolis, but his home in rural BrownCounty increasingly attracted visitors and other artists to the area.

Steele’s reputation in the art world continued to rise. In 1913 he was elected as an Associate Artist to the National Academy of Design in New York, confirming Steele’s standing as the most famous Hoosier artist of his time. Three of his paintings were accepted in the prestigious Panama-Pacific Exhibition in 1915. In 1916 Steele received an honorary doctorate from IndianaUniversity.

In 1922 Steele and his wife rented a home near the Bloomington campus, while Steele kept a studio on the top floor of the University Library, now Franklin Hall. Steele continued to exhibit his art, including a major exhibition called the Hoosier Salon, held in Chicago and organized by The Daughters of Indiana. He also maintained a busy lecture schedule and spent the summer months painting in BrownCounty.

In December 1925, Steele suffered a heart attack. Although he recovered and continued to paint, he became ill the following June and died at home in BrownCounty on July 24, 1926

Drawings and Prints

Drawing of building