- to another program with the McGill County History Club. It's a beautiful day for a program, I think.
- My name's Michael Carter. Welcome to my field of what I call that. My brother, Steve, and my cousin.
- And a lot of my old bloomin' in high school classmates are here too, here and there. I do mean old.
- Let's sheet some paper on all the tables for you to share amongst yourselves. It's just a list of all
- the upcoming programs.
- the history club going all the way into next year, barring cancellations, of course, which happens sometimes.
- Many thanks to the Red Collegiate for allowing us to have these programs. We've been partners in presenting
- and preserving local history for over 13 years now. And thanks to the white staff in the kitchen who
- do such a great job every time. Amanda and Misty are our waitresses today.
- and be generous with them. I'd also like to thank CATS TV, of course, for recording our programs for
- over 10 years. Justin is our camera guy today. Hi, Justin. This is a very important service. It allows
- us to upload each program to YouTube for people who can't make it to live programs. In addition, it
- allows us to preserve our local history for future generations. We have over 120 programs on YouTube now.
- So you can find them real easily. Just go to YouTube and put Monroe County History Club in the search
- engine, and it goes right to it. So how many new attendees do we have today? Any new ones? I don't see
- anybody. If you want to leave your email address with us for our direct email stuff that where you're
- not on Facebook and stuff, you can leave that if you want.
- We don't sell it or anything. Many thanks to Steve Brewer, who helps me with all the tech stuff and
- sends out all our emails every month. So thanks a lot, Steve. Now a word from Daniel Schlegel, the director
- of the History Center. All right. Good afternoon, everyone.
- I'm very excited. I finally remembered to bring the quarter sheets that have our garage sale fundraiser.
- So I brought plenty of them. So please make sure to stop by the table over here to my left. They have
- the new address in Ellisville for the garage sale. So feel free to grab one of these. The garage sale
- ladies are working very hard on the move and resetting up the new space. I do not have a donation date
- yet. That is a very popular question.
- that people have contacted us about. We do not yet know, but as soon as I know, I'll make sure I put
- that out, and I will announce it here for anyone interested. I have a lot of new items. A local reporter
- stopped in and caught me right before I left, so I'm a little late setting up, but I will set that up
- momentarily. So I have some new stuff out there. And then the only other thing I have for today is this
- coming Friday,
- at 4 o'clock at the Monroe County Airport is a state historical marker honoring Lieutenant Gary Kisters
- from Bloomington. He was the first World War II vet that received both the Distinguished Service Cross
- and the Medal of Honor. And so there was a big parade for him and everything downtown. And so a lot
- of people still remember the store. I'm sorry, he had a daycare center, one of our
- Folks normally hear Justin. It was his uncle. So we've heard a lot of great stories about Uncle Gary,
- as he calls him. But the marker dedication is this Friday. It is free and open to the public. So if
- you enjoy history or want to know a little bit more about World War II history, please make sure to
- come out and visit us. And I do have some more of these flyers. If anybody would like with them, I just
- have them over here right where I'll be. So thank you, everyone. And if you haven't signed up for the
- email, please do so.
- I think I get all of three emails a month from them. One is a reminder, one to say, hey, this is going
- on the next day. And then they always let me know when the video is uploaded from the previous month,
- which is always nice, because every now and then I'll miss one of these. But it's nice just to be able
- to put that on and listen to the history that happened. So have a great day, and thanks, everyone. Thanks,
- Daniel. And now Charlie Aiken.
- from the Civil War roundtable. There's a few words to share with you. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, I put some
- of these on the tables. Some of you didn't get them. I have extras. When you go get that stuff from
- Daniel, you can pick up a couple of these things if you need them. Because a couple of things on here
- are talking about the
- the history of the Civil War Roundtable. Founded in 2005, makes about as old as this outfit. And among
- the founders mentioned is Steve Rolfe. Many of you knew Steve. And Mark Akersworth was also involved.
- And he has all of the classes that he taught. Briefly, the Civil War Roundtable
- As it says on the sheet, it's not just the Civil War in Monroe County, because there wasn't any, really.
- Nothing happened. The closest we got was Morgan's raid. That was across the southern part of the state
- of Indiana. But on this sheet here, they mention some of the lectures that were given over time.
- And one of them was the story about Morgan's raid. And a couple of things about that. The best thing
- about it, though, there's a possibility that Morgan drank from the old oak and bucket. Because one of
- the stops that his raiders made was at the farm in southeastern Indiana, where the old oak and bucket
- came from. It's doubtful that he did, but the possibility is there.
- Some of his men did, certainly. Another little branch group went by. So that was kind of neat. Another
- thing about this Wiley lecture, I'll say more later, but again, if you're heavy into the Civil War,
- these names will mean a lot to you. But otherwise, they're just a lot of good people. But this Edwin
- C. Beers, he talked about Indiana at Antietam, the Battle of Antietam.
- and gave a lecture on that. This guy, he could give a narrative of the entire Civil War. Give him enough
- time, he could tell you all the dates, the bells, everything. So we get people of that caliber. But
- another thing about this, Monroe,
- that the program we have coming up that shows how the diversity, we don't just talk about the big battles,
- Gettysburg and Vicksburg and Teetum, some of the minor stuff. So just a quick outline of what's coming
- up in the next few months. And again, we meet once a month, the third Tuesday.
- In September, the great grandson of this soldier from Ohio, the soldier kept his diary and wrote letters.
- His great grandson compiled all these things into a book, and he's going to be the presentation for
- September. October, the topic is women in the Civil War. I'm looking forward to this.
- if it's wives and mothers and sweethearts on the home front, or if it's about nurses, or some of the
- best spies on both sides were women. And also on both sides were women disguised themselves as men and
- joined the armies and fought some of the battles. So I'm kind of looking forward to seeing which one
- they got in mind. And then another, those are my two
- Two speakers that were bringing in. But then the next one in November will be baseball in the Civil
- War. And one of the members of the group is going to give that talk. Because baseball got started. It
- was a way to relieve the boredom of camps. And then baseball spread as they all went home and helped
- spread the baseball. December is our Christmas dinner. That's sort of an open mic.
- where if you got something you want to share, you share it. Some have pictures and slides and videos
- and fancy stuff. Others just get up and talk. In January, about the draft riots in New York, that came
- up because many of the members, they have ancestors that were in the Civil War. None of my ancestors
- came over until after the Civil War, except
- my dad's mother's side. And they were Irish in New York. And I have no proof, but I'm quite certain
- they took part in the drafts rights. It was largely Irish people in New York doing all that.
- And as I said, we meet at 7 PM on the third Thursday, except in July and August, where we don't have
- a program.
- We usually meet at the history center, but we have a couple of exceptions. For one, we have a specialist
- deal at the IU archives, of all things. And the archivist is hiding over here at the end of the building,
- because they have a lot of stuff about people from IU that have journals and diaries and things, and
- they compile all that. We also have a meeting at the Hardbreech Brewery,
- They're on North College. I'm getting signals. Because the subject was alcohol in the Civil War, so
- we had it at a brewery where we had our meeting. Last thing, the fifth Tuesday is mentioned here. That's
- where two or three times a year, there's five Tuesdays in a month. So those extra Tuesdays, we started
- having book reviews, and now we've
- We're going to have one this in September about movies and how they're portrayed, the Civil War is portrayed
- in the movies. Some of you may have noticed, besides my taking so long, is that the fifth Tuesday is
- automatically the last Tuesday of the month. What else happens on the last Tuesday of the month? OK,
- so you make a big day of it.
- You come here for lunch and all that. And then in the evening, you go to the Harvard Brewery. And you
- don't have to read the book to join in. Just go there and have a good time. Anyway, on the handout,
- there's a senior moment. Anyway, there's a contact point if you want more on here. And thank you for
- your kind attention.
- Thanks, Charlie. That brings us to the program today. The name of the program is what did TC Steel have
- to do with the Indiana University? It turns out quite a bit. And just to talk about that, we would welcome
- Jessica Stevens here today, site manager of the TC Steel State Historic Site and State Historic Sites
- program manager for the Indiana State Museum in Historic Sites. And she can tell us all about this.
- All right, Jessica?
- Can you guys hear me? Okay. All right, so. Closer? Is that better? Okay. So I'm here to tell you about
- TC Steel and Indiana University. But I will fill in the gaps for you today. So I can't tell you just
- about TC and IU without there being a lot of questions raised.
- So I will tell you additional information. This topic is kind of dear to my heart. I was an undergrad
- at Indiana University as well as a grad student there. I spent many nights at the IMU studying under a T.C.
- Steele painting. So it's kind of full circle for me. OK.
- So Theodore Clement Steele was born on September 11, 1847. He was the oldest of five boys. And he was
- the son of a farmer and a leather worker. So he will, sorry.
- Harriet and Samuel will move their family when TC is five years old to Waveland, Indiana. And they do
- this because they want them to have a really good education. They were educated themselves and wanted
- them to go to the Waveland Collegiate Institute.
- When he's five, they will move. When he's 12, he will get his first art instruction at the Waveland
- Institute. By the time he's 13, just a year later, he will be teaching those art classes. So very early
- trajectory into his career in the arts field. By the time he is 14, his father will pass away.
- leaving him as the man of the household. However, Harriet was still adamant that he can continue with
- his education and he would farm also. And he had all those experiences. But while he's farming, he will
- talk about how he would put ribbons on the equipment and watch how they change color in the light. So
- always very interested in
- you know, color and art. When he's 16, he will have completed 40 oil paintings of family and friends.
- And he will know at an early age that he should be studying art in Europe. He will get some instruction
- from Cincinnati and Chicago, but Europe is where he needs to be.
- In 1870, he will marry Libby Lakin. They will have three children together that will survive into adulthood.
- Rembrandt, you might imagine where he got that name, his very favorite artist. They'll call him Brandt.
- And then there's Margaret, they'll call her Daisy. And then the youngest son's name is Shirley.
- By all accounts, he was a very loving and present father and husband. They would read stories together
- in the evenings, and they would play musical instruments together. They were a very musical family.
- TC could play the flute, and Daisy played the piano, and Shirley played the piano and the cello. While
- they're in Indianapolis,
- Steele will befriend a man named Herman Lieber. Herman was a gallery owner and a frame maker, so he
- was a good contact for TC Steele. He'll ask TC, what do you need to get your art to the level you want
- it to get to? TC will say, I need to be in either Paris, France, or Munich, Germany studying art.
- Lieber and 12 other businessmen in Indianapolis will send TC Steel to the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany
- to study art. There was a contract drawn up where TC would stay one to two years and then return, repay
- the businessmen in portraits or in paintings he did while abroad.
- Something to remember is that T.C. Steel is 33 years old by now. He has a wife and three children, and
- they are moving overseas with him. So he's in Munich. He's studying, and a year will pass. And T.C.
- Steel will say,
- to Herman Lieber if I just had a little more time. And so they will extend his stay. They'll throw in
- a little bit more money and expand his stay another year. Another year passes, and TC writes to Herman,
- you know, if I just had a little more time. And this time, TC will send home paintings so that Herman
- can sell these paintings in his business and finance the rest of his trip.
- At the Royal Academy, you would expect to spend eight years if you are going in this art academy. But
- Steele was able to test out of many, many classes due to his extensive portfolio. In Munich, he learned
- the academic realist technique known as gray manner. You might guess.
- what we mean by that. There's a lot of gray tones in those paintings up there. And they were really
- interested in subdued colors, but also light and dramatic shadows, things like that, similar to the
- old masters, such as Rembrandt.
- In 1884, he will create the Boatman that you can see here. It was part of his student exhibition painting
- for the Academy. This painting reflects his early academic training. The painting's craftsmanship earned
- Steele a silver medal. Today, the Boatman is part of the collection at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at IU.
- On the left is a painting of the cloisters where Steele and his family lived part of their time while
- in Germany. This painting usually hangs in the Tudor Room inside the Indiana Memorial Union. You may
- recognize it if you've been there. So Steele will study in Munich from 18 to 1885 where he will
- graduates in under four years. But while he is there, he was following around a man named J. Frank Currier.
- Currier was a Boston native, and he was interested in painting out of doors in plain air. So he had
- an unofficial school there where
- 15 to 20 American art students would follow him around. T.C. Seale was one of them. So he would always,
- when he was younger, he always wanted extra time to devote to landscape painting. And here, this is
- when he gets that. This is when he falls in love with the landscape.
- to bear the name the Indiana School of Art was opened by T.C. Steele in 1889. So he comes home from
- Munich because he believes that Indiana is just as beautiful as any European landscape. And this is
- sort of rare because during this time Americans studying abroad might stay
- abroad or go to the East Coast where they can make a lot more money. That was not true for the Hoosier
- artists. So another Hoosier artist William Forsythe will join him at the school and he will serve as
- a director until the Art Association takes over the management of the school in 1891.
- Steele will continue to teach though until 1895. In 1893, Steele will first encounter Impressionist
- paintings in person. We assume that he probably has seen reproductions of Impressionist paintings, but
- this is his first time seeing them in person.
- This was at the Chicago World's Fair. He will exhibit next to notable French Impressionist painters
- such as Claude Monet. September is one of the paintings that he had in the World's Fair. And he will
- have a quote, and I didn't write it down, but I think it's important. When people are saying, wow, you
- must be an Impressionist painter, you're exhibiting alongside
- you know, Claude Monet, he will say, if impressionism is being outside painting what I see, then I am
- an impressionist painter. So this painting was in the Chicago World's Fair. If you're interested in
- seeing it in person, you can do that right now for the next few weeks. It is up at the Brown County
- Art Gallery. It is part of a private collection, though, so it will be going away.
- After his visit to the World's Fair in 1893, he will paint the bloom of the grapes seen here. The palette
- of his canvas changed slightly to reflect sort of a white period in the progression of his art, which
- echoed the palette of French Impressionists. I don't think this is a great example of that, but there
- are several of his paintings that have the very Monet pastel tones to them.
- Bloom of the Grape earned an honorable mention in the 1900s World Fair in Paris, bringing steel international
- recognition. The 1890s brought about great recognition for steel as the leading artist in the state
- and one of the most notable painters in the region.
- Steel was part of a group of artists known as the Hoosier Group. This included T.C. Steel, of course,
- William Forsyth, John Otis Adams, Otto Stark, and Richard Grewell.
- This is a painting done by Wayman Adams in 1921. Richard Gruwell is not part of that painting because
- he passed away seven years before. But if you can't pick out TC, I will show you, hopefully. So this
- is him right here.
- It became known as the Hoosier Group due to a Chicago exhibit in 1894. And then they will exhibit again
- in Indianapolis together. The name was coined by an art critic. Steele and Adams will purchase together
- a home studio in Brookville, Indiana, as you can see in this painting.
- The home is nicknamed The Hermitage, named by Libby Steele. And it operates today as a bed and breakfast.
- So during this time, we call it the Brookville period. It's a very important time in Steele's career.
- He's gaining so much notoriety, and he's just very
- present in the art world. Okay, so we finally have contact with Indiana University. In July of 1896, T.C.
- Libby and Shirley will take his studio wagon from Indianapolis to Bloomington. He was there to paint
- portraits of several of the former professors and presidents of the university.
- There here are just a few paintings. See Wiley, Ballantine, Kirkwood. If you're from this region, you
- know these names. He will also paint Andrew Wiley, Joseph Swain, David Jordan, James Woodburn, and Richard Owen.
- portrait done by Steele of the university's ninth president in 1898, Dr. Joseph Swain. On the right,
- there's a letter to Swain from Steele. Steele let him know that his portrait was sent to him the day
- before, and he mentions the painting that Swain had shown interest in during their last meeting. The
- painting was called
- morning on the old Whitewater Canal. This painting was originally priced at $75. Swain offered him $60,
- which Steele agrees on now. So he will say that in his letter here, you had better telegraph me if this
- strikes you as favorably, as I presume there is little time to spare. There must be a lot of people
- wanting that painting.
- This is Libby. Near the end of her life, she will suffer from typhoid fever and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Steele will have a studio wagon built especially with her in mind so they can travel together in the
- countryside and she can lay out on the long benches. So she had a painful end of her life.
- The painter will travel to New York in 1899 to serve on the selection jury, choosing American art pieces
- in the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition. Just two days after returning home, Libby will pass away from
- tuberculosis. Steele will go through a period where he finds it difficult to paint,
- And the paintings he did produce were of amorous nature. I would argue that a lot of these paintings
- are some of his most beautiful. His daughter Daisy will take notice of the rut that he's in. So she
- will arrange for them to take a trip out west to visit his youngest son, Shirley, in 1902. This trip
- re-energized him.
- He painted the Oregon coast when he visited his mother out there. And then he painted the Redlands,
- California, where Shirley lived. The pair would make this trip in 1902 and in 1903. Steele comes home
- with many new canvases, and the people will say, T.C. Steele is back. Here is a beautiful portrait of
- Daisy, Steele's daughter.
- It is a new acquisition for us, and it's not a wedding portrait, although it looks like it could be
- one. Daisy will marry Gustav Neubacher on June 1st, 1905. Daisy was close friends with Gustav's sister,
- Selma Neubacher. They ran around in the same art circles as Selma was a Pratt Institute graduate.
- and was colleagues with Brandt at the Heron School of Art. She was also the assistant superintendent
- for art in the Indianapolis public school system. In 1906, TC and Selma will get engaged secretly. Why
- a secret, you ask? Well, Selma was 25 years younger than TC, and I'm sure his children, who were essentially
- the same age,
- may have had some opinions about that. While they were engaged, TC declared he wanted an art sanctuary.
- TC will go to Brown County with Selma's brother, Walter. This search was quick. The couple purchased
- an abandoned farm in Belmont, Indiana, and started their plans for building their new home.
- This is a painting of Selma working in her garden. This is one of TC Steel's most famous artworks. I
- should note here that this photo is likely dated at the end of the painter's life. But it is a photograph
- of his property in Belmont.
- When they arrived they can see the smokestacks at Indiana University 13 miles away It was a logging
- community But there were trees So he does talk that he could see the smoke rising from the smokestacks
- in letters to Sama And he could hear the drain which is interesting So
- While he was overseeing construction on the property, he was surprised to see two young men walking
- up that hill. They were members of the senior class at Indiana University. They asked him to paint the
- portrait of their current president, William Lowe Bryan. TC would agree, and he would travel back and
- forth from their hilltop home in Brown County to the IU campus.
- Paid a portrait from wife, TC required 12 sittings at two hours each visit. The two men became best
- friends. Steele found Dr. Bryan to be more than a good sitter. Bryan was, in Steele's words, a delightful
- and charming man.
- Dividing his time between Brown County and the IU campus, he wrote to Selma from a hotel room on May
- 26, 1907. I have told you how beautiful the campus is here, with its cluster of stone buildings among
- the trees. A great many people were walking around the grounds, and some kind of service was being held
- in the auditorium. I keep away from these places.
- for I do not want to meet people and run the risk of being invited out. I have evaded several invitations,
- and yet I like the air and culture and intelligence of a college town. What a contrast to the neighboring
- county seat to the east. They are a century apart, as well as 20 miles. Over the next decade, he and
- Brian became
- very good friends, and the Seals would attend numerous IU social and cultural events. Here's Salma and
- TC in the living room of their home. We set it up just as you see in the pictures from their time while
- they were living there. So it feels like they have just walked out. We own all of the books.
- all of the artifacts from the couple, which makes our historic home so special. So here is Selma. They
- have moved in in 1907, and they are enjoying their home. When they first arrived, Selma didn't know
- how to plant food. She didn't even really know how to cook. If you remember, she was raised
- For middle class, she has an education. There would be people in her home who had done these things
- for them. But in Brown County, when you come in the middle of the woods in 1907, you are expected to
- know how to farm. So she will, though, learn how to plant food with some help from her neighbor, Mrs.
- Parks. And she will learn from
- bulletins from Purdue University, what to plant, when, and how. She became quite good at planting food
- and flowers. The neighbors couldn't imagine why she would be planting flowers. They told her that she
- was wasting her time. When she explained that she plants the flowers, her husband
- paints the flowers, and then they get money for those paintings. They will then sort of back off and
- say, oh, OK. I get it now. So she loved his green landscapes, but she really encouraged him to add color,
- hence the still lifes. He will paint many flower arrangements that Selma will put together for him.
- But one thing that is important to remember, so this is a Brown County landscape. In 1907, people in
- Brown County are living in log cabins. They are very interested in what is going on at this house, this
- red house on the hill.
- So they will come, and they will want to be entertained by the Victrola, by the player piano. They want
- to know why the man of the household doesn't farm. He paints for a living. And the woman plants flowers.
- So they will come, and Zama will entertain them. And they had an interesting start to their time in
- Brown County.
- Steel was selected to feature a Brown County landscape called a Brown County Valley for the frontispiece
- of the Arbutus in 1910, which those of you who don't know, it's the yearbook from Indiana University.
- Inspired by his newfound landscape, Steel produced many canvases.
- For the first time, people are seeing Brown County without industrialization, with uninterrupted vistas.
- Artists in the Midwest are taking note. Many will take trips to Nashville for painting expeditions.
- Eventually, however, artists will begin to make Nashville their permanent home and turn it into an artist colony.
- We do know that TC painted in Nashville with many of these artists, but he'd rather be at home painting
- his landscape there. For the first time in Bloomington, Steele will have a solo exhibition put on by
- the IU Art Department as part of the state centennial.
- which included various programs on campus in the spring of 1916. Paintings were hung in the West Parlor
- and at the YWCA room in the student building. Because of its great success, the exhibit was extended
- until after the graduation ceremony in June. The largest canvas in the group was purchased by the Men's
- Faculty Club,
- This was the first steel painting purchased by the university. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of
- it. Selma recalls in her book, The House of the Singing Winds, that on June 14th, 1916, at graduation
- commencement, there was a surprise to the painter.
- IU confirmed the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to Theodore Clement Steele in recognition of his
- distinguished attainments and achievements. She continued, when finally the presentation by President
- Brian came,
- in words so beautiful that I was in tears. The painter, too, showed plainly how deeply he was moved
- by the honor bestowed upon him. IU gave very few honorary degrees in those days, and the individual
- had to meet several requirements to receive the honor. This still holds true today. Following the IU exhibit,
- Steele was painting in a rented studio space on Monument Circle in Indianapolis, as well as in his home
- in Brown County. In 1887, we're going to go back a little bit to talk about the monument, the Indiana
- General Assembly created the Monument Commission, which was responsible for erecting a monument dedicated
- to the state's soldiers whom
- had died at war. T.C. and William Forsyth, another Hoosier group artist, were art advisors for the commission
- of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Circle. This would become one of Steele's most, probably
- not most famous, but I think he loved painting the monument. I think it was one of his favorite subjects.
- Many IU students would travel to TC and Selma's home and visit the painter. They wanted to get a glimpse
- of the newly built large studio that you can see here and you can see inside the studio. It was the
- first free studio in the Midwest and it was open to the public. Selma notes 500 visitors in the year 1918.
- I think it only increased from there. It's hard for us to imagine that it was an active art gallery,
- and visitors from all over would come and visit the historic site. So during this time,
- Professor Brooks at the art department at IU will also arrange with Steele a number of small canvases
- to be used as a traveling exhibition. This big exhibition was sent out all over the state of Indiana.
- I don't know any more information from there, but I can't help but wonder what happened to those paintings.
- I know of one painting done on campus of Indiana University during this period. It's this one of the
- student building painted in 1919. However, knowing how prolific he was, I would assume there are at
- least a couple more canvases from this very day. Under Bryan's administration, the Department of Fine
- Arts grew steadily.
- He stated that the arts are as important to the university as scholarship. This is a huge deal for the
- arts. Brian was instrumental in securing Steele's Artist-in-Residency, which was a first for IU.
- On June 9, 1922, Brian invited TC Steele to hold the position.
- Not only did IU offer a $2,500 honorarium for the year, but Bryan arranged for Seal to have no prescribed
- duties and to do whatever you think most profitable for your art. Sounds like a good gig to me.
- By this point, Seal was in his 70s, and he already had many accolades. Did he need this opportunity at IU?
- know, but Selma wrote in her book that if he had chosen not to do it, he definitely would have missed
- it. He really enjoyed his time at IU and enjoyed being with the students on campus. Today, you can visit
- a historical marker that was put up during the university's bicentennial celebration during the ninth
- 2019-2020 school year. It marks the location of Steele's on-campus studio. And at the time, this building
- was actually the university library. It's now Franklin Hall. His studio occupied the top floor of the
- building. So here you can see inside his studio on campus.
- He also had the title honorary professor of painting. The mission was to lead students to see the beautiful
- in nature and in life. An IU student recalled his visit to Steele's studio. If Mr. Steele is painting
- when you visit the studio, he continues to paint.
- And you may either wander looking at canvases on the walls or watch him work. Another visitor happened
- to say that he thought one landscape looked so natural. Steele responded, so many people seem to think
- that the landscape artist merely makes an exact copy of what he sees in nature. Not at all. The artist
- is not so much a student of the face of nature
- as of her moods. Steele talks a lot about how he paints the moods of nature. So reading this quote,
- I knew that was a direct quote from Steele. On the left is a photo of TC and the future president of
- Indiana University, Herman B. Wells. I think it's pretty spectacular that this picture even exists
- very special. It wasn't uncommon for Steele to paint. You know, he's an in-plane air painter. He wants
- to be outside painting. And so this was a regular scene on campus while he was an artist-in-resident
- there. The picture on the right, that is of T.C. and the current President William Lowe Bryan. These
- are both in Dunn Meadow.
- Here is another photo of Steele painting during his artist in residency in Cascade Park. Six months
- out of the year, Steele was expected to be in residence. TC and Selma would split their time between
- IU, where they rented a house, and their hilltop home in Brown County. During their time, Bloomington
- In Bloomington, Selma would give a series of teas on Sundays for members of the faculty. So she was
- really making her, forming her own relationships there. In 1923, one year into the artist in residency,
- IU began to purchase artwork from earlier in the artist's career.
- This is a bill of sale from the purchase. These paintings were to be placed in the Indiana Memorial
- Union, where you can still find them today. I always like to note the pricing for some of these paintings.
- For those who can't see in the back, $500, and the rest are $400.
- Senior and IU professor of English published a booklet in 1924 called Art for Your Sake. It focused
- on Steele's presence on campus. In this booklet, there's a title called What Not to Do, where he explains,
- it's better to look and look with a quiet willingness to see.
- In another section called Why Mr. Steele is Here, he explains that Mr. Steele is not here to teach or
- to lecture, except by the grace of good nature, but is to bring a benefit to us all by merely being
- present and practicing his art where we can see it. While campus was a,
- a lot smaller than it is today, a century ago. Many locations are still recognizable to us. I will go
- through these slides fairly quickly for time's sake. And there are many more paintings of Indiana University
- than what I show here. I tried to find an image of the building online
- for each of these paintings from around the time he painted them. So this one is Lindley Hall. Here's
- one of the Jordan River now called Eagleton.
- This was the campus library where Steel's studio occupied the top floor. It's now known as President's
- Hall or Franklin Hall. I heard that the top floor now is like HVAC, which is a little depressing. This
- is a painting that features Swain Hall East through Dunwoods from the northwest side.
- This painting includes Kirkwood Hall and Lindley Hall from the east side of Dunn Woods. Here is a view
- of Memorial Hall from the northeast looking southwest. Students had just moved into this new dorm the
- year before. Okay.
- enjoy this painting. It's the eastern side of campus. It depicts the former IU power plant. You can
- see the smoke stack there. As I mentioned before, Steele noted that he could see the smoke from his
- home 13 miles to the east. And we talk about this a lot at this site when we're saying how different
- the landscape has changed since then.
- This painting shows Dunn Cemetery on campus. The former IU power plant and printing plant were located
- where the hotel portion of the Indiana Memorial Union currently stands today. From 1922 to 1926,
- T.C. Steele served as artist in resident at Indiana University with a spacious studio spanning the top
- floor of Franklin Hall, university library then. Before he passed away, there were plans drawn to make
- a private studio for the artist. Those plans never came to fruition as he died before the work had begun.
- Months before his passing, he suffered from a heart attack and slowly recovered. IU students came to
- visit him when they heard he had fallen ill again. Selma said that this really raised his spirits. Steele
- will pass away on July 24th, 1926 because of a gallbladder infection.
- If you know anything about IU, you know that they do not like to cancel classes. And there's quite a
- bit of history to support this. However, upon the news of Steele's death, President Brian canceled classes
- for his funeral on July 27. Hundreds from the university attended. On the right is the alumni newsletter
- put out on July 31, 1926.
- with two featured articles about T.C. Steele, one a retrospective of his life and career and the other
- featuring thoughts shared by faculty and administrators at IU. There were two funerals, one in Indianapolis
- and the other at his home in Brown County where he is buried.
- The photo has been colorized, as you can probably tell. And you can see Selma in the middle there. Artist
- Will Vodder carried Steele's ashes to his grave site. In December of 1926, Indiana University dedicated
- the entire newsletter
- to TC steel by reprinting remarks that speakers gave during his funeral. President Brian sent this letter
- to Selma nearly a year after his passing. They kept in touch over the years. Here he is assuring her
- that he wanted to establish a memorial to TC
- But in the meantime, the trustees wanted to hold a rotating exhibit with just a few paintings at a time
- in one of the new picture galleries, as he called it. He wanted visitors to be able to concentrate on
- just a few steel paintings at one time. I find this to be pretty reasonable and very thoughtful. President
- Bryan sent a letter to.
- Sorry, I lost my place. All right, so if you aren't convinced by now that IU loved T.C. Steele, I don't
- know what will convince you. Here you can see the yearbook, the Arbutus, dedicated to T.C. Steele in
- its 1927 edition. The dedication states, he has seen beauty and brought it to us.
- In 1930, William Lowe Bryan will purchase six steel paintings from Selma. This was a great help to Selma
- during the Great Depression. If you've ever been curious what a steel painting cost during his lifetime,
- now you know. You've seen a couple of slides with the bill of sale. A lot of times these prices would
- vary depending on
- size, quality, and subject. Selma will, like I said, become really good at planting food. She will sell
- her produce out on 46, as well as her eggs and honey after steel passes. Much like we do today, Selma
- will charge for tours. She will, for a quarter, give you a tour of the house or studio.
- In 1938, President Herman B. Wells invited Selma to a reception for the senior class. Unfortunately,
- I don't know any more details from this, but I assume it's part of the graduation happenings. This is
- significant because it tells us that even under a new administration, Indiana University continued to
- reach out to Selma Steele.
- She did attempt to get Indiana University to take over the property once she passed away. However, that
- did not happen. She listed out her assets, as you can see here, but they did not end up doing this.
- And this is a photograph of Salma in front of the large studio. She will end up leaving the site to
- the state of Indiana
- for it to be turned into a memorial just two months before her death. She left us 350 paintings,
- 211 acres, numerous artifacts and objects in five historic buildings. The Department of Conservation
- will manage the site from 1945 until 1965.
- And then it will switch hands to the Department of Natural Resources until 2011. From 2011 until today,
- it's been managed by the Indiana State Museum and historic sites. Before she did all that, however,
- she wrote a book called The House of the Singing Winds, where she gives details from the artist's life
- while living in Brown County.
- This includes the partnership between the painter and Indiana University. IU has the second largest
- collection of steel paintings in the world, second to the Indiana State Museum and historic sites.
- Over time, their collection has grown to over 75 works. This year marks the centennial of T.C. Steel's passing.
- Many art institutions, including TC Steel State Historic Site, have held special memorial exhibits for
- TC Steel. University Collections at McCalla has a great exhibit happening right now that focuses on
- steel and Indiana University's relationship. So I would go there immediately after this program.
- Also, Brown County Art Gallery has a very large exhibit of 100 paintings pulled from institutions across
- the state and also private collections. This exhibit will end in I think a few weeks.
- but it is definitely worth the trip to the Brown County Art Gallery. The Brown County Art Guild also
- has an exhibition there where they focus on steel and a lot of their permanent collection artists and
- their relationship and things like that. And finally, the Hahn Museum in, I think they're in Lafayette,
- They have a beautiful collection. If you've never been and really enjoy Hoosier art, their collection
- is spectacular. Their exhibit will open, I believe, in October. So I'm really looking forward to that.
- Join us, me and Nan Brewer at the Juniper Gallery of Art at 4pm on September 16th for a book share on
- Selma's memoir, The House of the Singing Winds, where I got a lot of this information.
- So thank you so much for having me today. Please come to the TC Steel State Historic Site. Selma wanted
- us to give tours to you. So please come and visit. We're open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 to 5. We
- offer three tours a day. It's coming up in our busy season. So give us a call first.
- many, many school groups coming, especially in the morning. So if you want to come to the site in the
- fall, give us a call ahead of time so we can make sure you get it on a tour. So what is this again?
- I'm sorry? What is it again? The TC Steel State Historic Site. And where is it? It's in between. It's
- in Belmont. So it's in between Bloomington and Nashville on 46.
- Thank you. All right, does anybody have any questions? Yeah. No, I was expecting to get this question,
- but I am not allowed to
- say. It's a not a security issue, but it's a not even that. It's more of we don't put prices on our
- artifacts and things like that. But I will say that you can Google TCCL paintings at auction and see
- what they go for. And again, it's still today depends on
- size, condition, and subject. Yeah. Yeah. You said there are other buildings on the side. Why did they
- do that? Oh, that's a great question. OK. So we have, oh, OK, good. Died right in time. So we have five
- historic buildings. We have the house. We have the large studio.
- which was built in 1916. We have the small studio that was built in 1912. It used to be a chicken coop
- and tool shed that they kind of smashed together. And so that building is still there. They also had
- a, I want to call it the first Airbnb in Brown County.
- That building, I think it collapsed in the 60s. So it's no longer standing, but our visitor center was
- built within its outline on the site. The Dewar Log Cabin. So Selma found out that a cabin that was
- five miles away was going to be dismantled and discarded. So she had people dismantle it
- and bring it to the site and reassemble it. This was really a way for her to show the contrast of the
- story of when they arrived. People in Brown County were living in log cabins. So she could talk about
- that. It also served
- as a exhibition space that she created in memorial to her brother, Walter, who was an amateur naturalist.
- So she had specimen in that building for a while. And then, yes. Yes, very good. Yes, very good. So
- they do her family. They had 17 children go through.
- that cabin. There was a first Mrs. Dewar and then a second Mrs. Dewar. So not one person is birthing
- these 17 children, luckily. But we will assume that some of these kids are filing out along the way,
- but still it's a one-bedroom cabin with a loft. It leaves a lot to be desired.
- Cool. Selma died in 1945. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. So it's really interesting. During his lifetime, he was exhibiting
- all across the country. He was giving lectures all across the country from
- New York City all the way to San Diego. And there are so many museums that already have his artwork
- because he was painting in these regions. He spent a lot of time in Kansas. And so I know the museums
- there have paintings.
- the Redlands, California. It's interesting to me because people know T.C. Steele there. They know exactly
- who he is. Same thing with Kansas. So it's interesting that many, many collections, including, oh, I
- don't want to get this wrong. I want to say the MoMA has one of his paintings. But again, I might be
- wrong about that. I know somewhere in New York City.
- Yeah, a lot of places already have them. Any other questions? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. They had their first
- date at TC Steel, State Historic Site. And they really felt a connection with the property. I'm sorry?
- Oh, sorry. So Bob and Barbara Stevens, he mentioned what their connection is. They donated
- money for the visitor center to be built. We finally have running water, which means running toilets.
- So we are forever grateful for them. And they just really became so connected to the site. They went
- to Giverny to visit Monet's home and studio in France and they were like,
- We have to get a visitor center for TC Steel. So they have donated money for buses to come to the site
- in their community. They live in Columbus. So they've really supported us in so many ways. We're grateful.
- Anybody else? OK.
- Thank you guys so much.