Theodore Clement Steele, American, 1847–1926
1920
Oil on canvas
53.34 cm x 79.37 cm | 21 in x 31 ¼ in
Framed: 77.47 cm x 103.50 cm | 30 ½ in x 40 ¾ in
Signed and dated lower right, T C Steele 1920
Owned by Columbia Club, Indianapolis, Indiana
Note: Portrait not available for public viewing.
This painting was completed just six years before T.C. Steele’s passing in 1926. Located inside the Platinum Lounge on the fifth floor of the Columbia Club which offers prominent views of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument.
Steele subject matter experts are unsure of the exact location of this painting, but Steele would have been 72 years of age and living at the House of the Singing Winds in Brown County. It is unlikely he would have ventured far from the house, studio and property to paint at this point in his life. The painting appears to be a view of Hunnicutt Valley. This valley was to the north of the House of Singing Winds.
If one walks out of the front door, and then turns left, looking north, there was also the Parks family farm in sight, which had outbuildings. By 1920, (date of the painting) one of the two large barns on the Parks farm had burned. In fact, Steele’s Studio Wagon (which acted as a mobile studio) was in one of the barns when they burned and was lost in this 1913 fire.
This painting has a brass plaque located in the middle, bottom of the frame that reads:
I.A.C. Arts Foundation
Brown County Hills By T.C. Steele
Purchased 6-13-84
L: Plate on bottom center of frame reads “I.A.C. Arts Foundation, Brown County Hills By T.C. Steele, Purchased 6-13-84”; R: Signed lower right T.C. Steele 1920
This plaque indicates the painting was originally in the collection of the prominent Indianapolis Athletic Club, located near the Columbia Club at 350 N. Meridian Street. The two clubs merged into one in 2004. The two clubs are now located in the Columbia Club under that name. The former Indianapolis Athletic Club has been transformed into condominiums.
The Columbia Club
The Columbia Club was established in 1888 as the Harrison Marching Society to support the candidacy of General Benjamin Harrison of Indianapolis as President. After Harrison won election in that year, the society decided to incorporate as a permanent organization and chose the name Columbia Club, based on the popular alternative name for America at the time.
The Club has occupied three buildings at its prominent location on Monument Circle, and the current building opened in 1925. Designed in English Tudor style by the noted Indianapolis architects Rubush and Hunter and features lavishly appointed interiors with sculptures and plaster details by top Indiana artists.
The present building has hosted famous personalities and holds a tradition of important business and civic meetings being held at the club.
In 1926, Queen Marie of Romania was welcome to the city with a banquet at the Club, and the next year Charles Lindberg, the American Eagle, was honored at the Columbia Club for flying solo from New York to Paris.
In 1976, President Ronald Regan keynoted the annual Beefsteak Dinner held since 1891.
In the previous clubhouse the four founders of the Indianapolis 500 – Carl Fisher, James A. Allison and Arthur C. Newby met in 1909 at the Club and discussed building the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In more recent years, the agreement to bring the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis was finalized at a meeting in a Columbia Club suite.
T.C. Steele was a member of the Columbia Club during the time he and his family lived in Indianapolis at Tinker Place (1885 – 1901). The Columbia Club was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Special Thanks to The Columbia Club
Resources
1 Jim Ross, proprietor of James R. Ross Fine Art.
2 Andrea Smith deTarnowsky, T.C. Steele Historic Site Manager (retired).
3 Indiana Historical Society, W.H. Bass Collection 1925