Videos
The Portraits of T.C. Steele
“The Portraits of T.C. Steele,” video, 55:08, Indianapolis Propylaeum, https://youtu.be/w8dB4rtGSbY.
This presentation by David Steele provides a brief introduction to several portraits painted by Hoosier Group artist Theodore Clement Steele (1847 – 1926). Some are not in public view and this will provide a rare chance to see these portraits of people who have left a meaningful contribution to Indianapolis.
Indiana Bicentennial Minute – T.C. Steele
“Indiana Bicentennial Minute – T.C. Steele,” video, 1:00, Indiana Historical Society, https://indianahistory.org/education/educator-resources/online-resources/indiana-bicentennial-minute/tc-steele/.
Narrated by Hoosier native Jane Pauley who is the recipient of multiple Emmy Awards as well as the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Above this Brown County fireplace are the words “Every morning I take off my hat to the beauty of the world”. This is the home of artist T.C. Steele, famous American impressionist painter and the most prominent member of the artists known as the Hoosier group in the late 1800s.
T.C. Steele Discovery
“T.C. Steele Discovery,” YouTube video, 4:09, Indiana State Museum, January 29, 2013, https://youtu.be/h0ovtsrWbK8.
Chicago-based conservator Barry Bauman explains that he has worked on tens of thousands of paintings but has never had a surprise quite like this before. Bauman and Meredith McGovern, Arts & Culture Collections Manager at the Indiana State museum, tell about the amazing discovery of a previously unknown 1890 painting by T.C. Steele.
T.C. Steele Historic Site to Recreate Artist’s Studio Wagon
“T.C. Steele Historic Site To Recreate Artist’s Studio Wagon,” YouTube video, 2:34, WTIU January 12, 2018, https://youtu.be/MLxkVeX1r54.
WTIU, a PBS television station owned and operated by Indiana University, serves over 607,126 households in 29 counties in West and South Central Indiana. WTIU airs programming on five digital channels 24 hours a day, and produces local, regional and national programs.
News & Magazine Articles
Friends of T.C. Steele receives Indiana Historical Society grant, interactive app being designed
Niedbalski, Ray. “Friends of T.C. Steele receives Indiana Historical Society grant, interactive app being designed.” Brown County Democrat, September 15, 2022.
The Friends of T.C. Steele organization has been awarded $12,000 to fund an online app based on the life of Hoosier impressionist painter T.C. Steele.
Clean House to Survive? Museums Confront Their Crowded Basements
Pogrebin, Robin. “Clean House to Survive? Museums Confront Their Crowded Basements.” The New York Times, March 12, 2019.
With storage spaces filled with works that may never be shown, some museums are rethinking the way they collect art, and at least one is ranking what it owns.
The T.C. Steele Gardens
Andrews, Moya. “The T.C. Steele Gardens.” Bloom Magazine, July 11, 2018.
http://www.magbloom.com/2018/07/the-t-c-steele-gardens/
Theodore Clement Steele (1847–1926), the famous American impressionist painter, is well known for his Indiana landscapes. (What many may not know is that Steele was also a skilled portrait painter, and this actually generated the majority of his income.)…
The Art and Work of Theodore Steele
Brooks, Alfred. “The Art and Work of Theodore Steele.” The American Magazine of Art, August, 1917: 401-406.
This 1917 article in The American Magazine of Art features four oil on canvas murals, painted in 1914 by T.C. Steele: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, featuring the seasonal landscape of Brown County, Indiana.
View and learn more about the murals here.
Following his muse: Gardens at artist T.C. Steele’s historic site being restored
Clifford, Sara. “Following his muse: Gardens at artist T.C. Steele’s historic site being restored.” Brown County Democrat, October 4, 2016.
http://www.bcdemocrat.com/2016/08/29/following_his_muse/
The out-of-town guests shifted and swatted even under the shade of the tent. It was 90-plus degrees still at 5 p.m., and the insects were doing their work on the adjacent flower garden. Selma Steele could have related…
An Artist for All Seasons
Kibbler, Anne. “An Artist for All Seasons.” Indiana University Alumni Magazine, Winter, 2017.
Theodore Clement Steele, Indiana’s most celebrated landscape artist, enjoyed a 30-year relationship with Indiana University, spending the last four years of his life as an honorary professor. His legacy to IU comprises almost 70 paintings displayed on the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses, a magnificent record of the university and its people, and an incalculable influence on its students, faculty and alumni…
Inspiring loyalty: The education and preservation of T.C. Steele
Goodrich, Theresa. “Inspiring loyalty: The education and preservation of T.C. Steele.” The Local Tourist, March 25, 2019.
https://travel.thelocaltourist.com/t-c-steele-state-historic-site/
Great artists are tortured. They don’t quite fit in. They suffer from bipolar disease, schizophrenia, or depression, and they often struggle with personal relationships. That’s the perception, anyway, and proponents of this theory cite Van Gogh, Hemingway, Schumann, Gauguin, and Woolf, among other troubled geniuses. But the reality is, the link between mental illness and creativity is more correlation that causation, although there’s no doubt that an artist’s mind sees things a little differently…
The Life and Artwork of T. C. Steele
Hadley, Craig and Mark Ruschman. “The Life and Artwork of T. C. Steele.” American Art Review, Vol. XXIX No. 3 (June 2017): 50-54.
Steele (1847-1926) is perhaps the most widely celebrated Hoosier Impressionist painter of the early twentieth century. In honor of Indiana’s bicentennial celebration, From Munich to Brown County: The Life and Artworli of T. C. Steele highlights paintings and sketches drawn from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites…
New life brought to T.C. Steele boyhood home
Hedrick, Nick. “New life brought to T.C. Steele boyhood home.” Journal Review, Jan 13, 2017.
http://www.journalreview.com/news/local/article_2453afa6-d94d-11e6-bab5-ab6c0549044c.html
Cindy Smith tugs on a chipped paint door, pointing up the staircase that famed Hoosier artist T.C. Steele used to climb. “This is where T.C. and his siblings slept,” said Smith, standing in the Waveland house where Steele lived as a boy…
The Life and Legacy of T.C. Steele, Indiana’s Foremost Painter
Hiller, Nancy. “The Life and Legacy of T.C. Steele, Indiana’s Foremost Painter.” Bloom Magazine, August – September 2011.
The undulating topography was still bare of leaves that April day in 1907 when Theodore Clement Steele took Selma Neubacher, who would soon become his second wife, to an isolated ridge choked with brush and brambles…
Retro Indy: Myths about Soldiers and Sailors Monument debunked
Mitchell, Dawn. “Retro Indy: Myths about Soldiers and Sailors Monument debunked.” Indianapolis Star, Dec 10, 2016.
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2016/12/02/retro-indy-myths-soldiers-and-sailors-monument-debunked/94077556/
The history of Indianapolis’ iconic Soldiers and Sailors Monument includes some stories that have turned into legends…
Century-Old T.C. Steele Painting Discovered In Brown County
Neely, Shameka. “Century-Old T.C. Steele Painting Discovered In Brown County.” Indiana Public Media, May 24, 2012.
https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/centuryold-tc-steele-painting-discovered-brown-county-30543/
A century old painting from Brown County has been discovered after being hidden under another painting at the Indiana State Museum’s T.C. Steele State Historic Site. The painting was official unveiled to the public Wednesday…
Work Worth Doing: Brandt Steele1, Designer and Potter
Shifman, Barry. “Work Worth Doing: Brandt Steele, Designer and Potter.” Traces 6, no. 1 (Winter 1994): 16-21.
“On looking at the ‘Life of William Morris’ I found a sentence that has been my guide all my life as well as the lives of many others. Here it is—’it is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which should be worth doing and be itself pleasant to do,- and which should be done under such conditions as would make it neither overwearisome nor overanxious.'” -Brant Steele
Brandt Steele was the son of Theodore Clement Steele and Mary Elizabeth Lakin Steele.
Plein Heir: Helen McKay married into one of Indiana’s best-known artist families, the Steeles, and kept right up with them.
Zeigler, Connie. “Plein Heir: Helen McKay married into one of Indiana’s best-known artist families, the Steeles, and kept right up with them.” Indianapolis Monthly, January, 2019.
https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/arts-culture/backtrack-helen-mckay/
The turn of the century was a pivotal era for the Indiana arts world—and for young painter and sketcher Helen McKay in particular. In 1902, Herron School of Art opened in the home of one of Indiana’s most famous painters, T.C. Steele. The 27-year-old McKay took a post as a teacher there, and before the year 1903 was rung in, she married Steele’s son, Rembrandt “Brandt” Steele, himself a well-known artist…
Press Releases
New T.C. Steele Painting Uncovered
Indiana State Museum. “New T.C. Steele Painting Uncovered.” News release, May 23, 2012.
INDIANAPOLIS — Eighty-six years after the death of Indiana artist T.C. Steele (1847-1926), a new painting has been discovered, much to the delight of the Indiana State Museum. This is the first discovery of its nature in the museum’s fine arts collection and is highly unusual in the art world…
Brochures
T. C. Steele and the Munich School: From Studio to Landscape
Indiana University Art Museum. “T. C. Steele and the Munich School: From Studio to Landscape.” Brochure, 2005.
THEODORE CLEMENT STEELE (1847-1926) occupies a special place in the hearts of art lovers in Indiana, and the Indiana University Art Museum is pleased to welcome his 1884 painting, The Boatman, to our collection. A bequest from the estate of Hubert and Cordelia Collins, The Boatman is an important work from Steele’s formative student years in Munich…
Steele and Shulz: A Brown County Partnership
Brown County Art Gallery Foundation. “Steele and Shulz: A Brown County Partnership …a glimpse into the work of T.C. Steele and Adolph Shulz ” Brochure, 2018.
Dear Patrons, Lenders, Sponsors, and Gallery Supporters, Tonight we celebrate the coming together of two minds, T. C. Steele and Adolph Shulz, a partnership that resulted in one of the most important regional art colonies in America and the founding of the Brown County Art Gallery. But there is another partnership that may turn out to be just as legendary…