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RACHEL PERRY
Curator of Fine Arts
The Fine Arts collection of the Indiana State Museum consists of over 8,000 pieces. Paintings, sculpture and works on paper convey the diverse creative expressions of Hoosiers. Tracing more than 200 years of Indiana art making, the works have either been created in Indiana or made elsewhere by Indiana natives. The realist and conceptual styles include Post-impressionism, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, among others.
The Fine Arts collection is very strong in representational landscapes, partially due to two fortunate circumstances. Selma Neubacher Steele, upon her death in 1945, bequeathed more than 350 T.C. Steele (1847 - 1926) paintings to the state of Indiana. In an unusual arrangement with artist Frank V. Dudley (1868 - 1957), the state received one of his treasured Indiana Dunes paintings each year as “rent” for his cottage, which had been taken over to establish the Indiana Dunes State Park. There are currently 75 Dudley paintings in the collection.
The early Indiana art holdings, in addition to the large Hoosier Group collection (T. C. Steele, William Forsyth (1854-1935), J. Ottis Adams (1851-1927), Otto Stark (1859-1926), and Richard Gruelle (1851-1914), include several pieces by Jacob Cox (1810 – 1892), one of the first portrait artists to establish a studio in Indianapolis; paintings by George Winter (1810 – 1876) and Karl Bodmer (1809 – 1893); and a major still life by nationally known American Impressionist, William Merritt Chase (1849 – 1916). These paintings speak to the historical significance of the Fine Arts collection at the Indiana State Museum. Recent collecting efforts have turned toward contemporary Indiana artists, female artists and sculptors.
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