Six of the works are from Theodore Clement Steele and one is from John Ottis Adams. Both are American impressionist painters and members of the Hoosier Group of Indiana painters.
The donation includes Adams’ painting “Brookville in Summer” and Steele’s paintings “Tinker Place, Indianapolis,” “Brown County Autumn,” “Brown County Landscape,” “Landscape With Cabins,” “Fall Scene: House in Valley” and “Mrs. Steele in the ?Garden.”
The landscapes in the paintings “capture the seasonal splendor of Brown County and a mostly rural Indiana,” according to the IU Bloomington Newsroom press release.
OneAmerica CEO Scott Davison said in a press release the company is very pleased these beautiful works of art have found a home at IU.
“OneAmerica has long supported Hoosier artists and the arts community, and it only made sense to return these significant paintings to their roots,” Davidson said.
IU President Michael McRobbie said in a press release the University is extremely grateful to OneAmerica for this donation, which is a welcome addition to the IU art collections.
“Indiana University is proud to offer a new home for these paintings, and we look forward to visitors to our Bloomington campus having the opportunity to view and appreciate the work of two of our state’s most acclaimed artists,” McRobbie said.
Both Steele and Adams were born in Indiana, spent a significant part of their careers in the state and had ties to IU.
Steele was born near Gosport, Ind., and studied art throughout the Midwest before returning to Indiana. In 1922, Steele became IU’s first artist in residence and kept a working studio in the top floor of Franklin Hall.
Today he is remembered for his prolific plein air landscapes, which are well represented in American museums, the Indiana Memorial Union, IU Art Museum and several other locations around the Bloomington campus.
Adams was born in Amity, Ind., and briefly attended Wabash College before studying art in London. He studied alongside Steele at the Royal Academy in Munich in the 1880s.
Adams was one of the original teachers of drawing and painting at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, which became a part of IU in 1967 and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis two years later.
IU has started to determine the best location to display these paintings.
Sherry Rouse, the curator who maintains all of IU’s works of art not in its museums, said she is thrilled to have these new paintings join the IU Campus Art ?Collection.
“We are proud of the artistic legacy of the University and aspire to make this the most artistically interesting university anywhere,” Rouse said. “A gift like this helps us fulfill that goal.”
Lanie Maresh
