Theodore Clement Steele Original Antique Cattle Sunlit Spring Landscape American Indiana Hoosier Impressionist Oil Painting
Original vintage antique Hoosier Indiana School painting of cattle under trees, and rolling hills, in a sunlight-dappled, brilliant California Plein Air impressionist landscape; by American Impressionist artist, Theodore Clement Steele, (1847-1926).
Theodore Clement Steele (September 11, 1847 – July 24, 1926) was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes. Steele was an innovator and leader in American Midwest painting and is one of the most famous 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’s work has appeared in many prestigious exhibitions, including the World’s Columbian Exposition, (1893), in Chicago, Illinois; the Five Hoosier Painters Exhibition, (1894), in Chicago; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, (1904), in Saint Louis; the International Exhibit of Fine Arts (1910) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile; and at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, (1915), in San Francisco, California.
Steele’s work is widely collected by museums and individuals. His paintings in public collections include those of the Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art, Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Indiana University Art Museum in Bloomington, Indiana, among others.
Steele’s contributions were recognized with honorary degrees from Wabash College, in 1900, and Indiana University, in 1916. In addition, Steele was elected to an associate membership in New York’s National Academy of Design, in 1913.
Steele was born near Gosport in Owen County, Indiana, on September 11, 1847, the eldest child of Samuel Hamilton and Harriett Newell Evans Steele. Steele’s father was a saddlemaker and farmer. In 1852, the family moved to Waveland in Montgomery County, Indiana, where Steele became interested in art and learned to draw. The T.C. Steele Boyhood Home at Waveland was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Steele began formal art training as a boy at the Waveland Collegiate Institute, (Waveland Academy). At sixteen, he continued his art training at Asbury College, (now DePauw University), in Greencastle, Indiana. Steele also studied briefly in Chicago, Illinois, and Cincinnati, Ohio, before returning to Indiana to paint portraits, on commission.
Theodore Clement Steele
(1847-1926)
Hoosier Indiana School Impressionist Oil on Canvas nailed to back stretcher bars
Estimated to have been created in approximately 1920
Painting alone measures approximately 20.2" X 22", without the frame
In frame, the painting measures approximately 22.75" X 24.75"
Signed lower left, in red
The painting has writing, verso wooden stretcher bars, "Property of Emma L Welty". There is a prairie farmer from Lee County, Illinois who was registered with the genealogy database in 1917 and was born in 1886. The painting is in good condition. There is a speck of paint that is missing in the lower left corner. Please review the initial/first image for details.
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