T. C. Steele, Brookville Autumn

TC Steele Brookville Autumn

Theodore Clement Steele, Brookville Autumn, 1904, oil on canvas, donor: Randolph H. Deer

When T. C. Steele painted this a the age of 57, he was in his final stages of recovering from the loss of his beloved first wife Mary. Mary passed away in 1899, after suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for several years. Steele and his family were devastated by her death, and Steele was deeply depressed for several years. Steele traveled around western America after his wife’s death, so he could get a change of scenery and have something else to think about other then Mary. Steele loved his trip to the West, and contemplated staying there.

However, in 1904 Steele came back to Indiana and stayed in Brookville, painting all summer and into the fall. Returning to Indiana was a turning point in Steele’s life—he felt reborn. The summer of 1904 was so productive for Steele that he had a solo exhibition of landscapes at the Lieber galleries in Indianapolis in December. Steele decided it was time to move on from Brookville after spending one last summer in 1905 painting with his friend John Ottis Adams. Steele then moved onto Brown County where he created his most famous landscape paintings.

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Bibliography

John Hartley