1847-1926 Theodore Clement Steele Galleries Theodore Clement Steele (September 11, 1847-July 24, 1926) was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes. Steele was born in Owen County, Indiana, and later moved to Indianapolis after study in Cincinnati, Chicago and Munich. He is considered to be the most important of the Hoosier Group of painters and his work is widely collected by museums and individuals. Steele earned his living primarily as a portrait painter and his portraits include one of notable Hoosier Poet James Whitcomb Riley and the official portraits of several Indiana governors. Steele exhibited at and was on the art selection for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 and was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1913. He enjoyed plein air, or outdoor, painting, which is reflected in many of the landscapes he painted. Steele went through a notable change in style after his return from Munich in 1885. Steele's work, which in the Munich time period sported drab colors and high contrasts, shifted towards a brighter, more vivid color palette after his return to Indiana. Upon T.C. Steele's return, his family lived in the Talbot House, or Tinker Mansion, which is at what is now 16th and Pennsylvania Streets in Indianapolis. In 1898, Steele and J. Ottis Adams bought a home in Brookville, Indiana, which they called "The Hermitage." Steele sold his interest in the home to Adams after the death of his first wife. He received an honorary master's degree from Wabash College in 1900 and an honorary doctorate from Indiana University in 1916.  Related Paintings of Theodore Clement Steele :. | Cows by the Stream | Berry Picker | November s Harmony | Child with Flowers | Summer Days at Vernon |
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William Barak
Australian Aboriginal, ca.1824-1903 was the last traditional ngurungaeta (elder) of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, based around the area of present-day Melbourne, Australia. He became an influential spokesman for Aboriginal social justice and an important informant on Wurundjeri cultural lore. Barak was born in the early 1820s at Brushy Creek near present-day Croydon, in the country of the Wurundjeri people. His mother, Tooterrie, came from the Nourailum bulluk at Murchison, Victoria. His father, Bebejern, was an important member of the Wurundjeri clan. Beruk was said to have been present when John Batman met with the tribal elders to 'purchase' the Melbourne area in 1835. Before he died he described witnessing the signing of the treaty in a ceremony he called a tanderem. Ninggalobin, Poleorong and Billibellary were the leading song makers and principal Wurundjeri leaders in the Melbourne region. European colonisation had caused disruptions to initiation ceremonies. In response these three men gathered at South Yarra in the late 1830s and inducted the young William Barak into Aboriginal lore. This entailed formally presenting Barak with the symbols of manhood: strips of possumskin tied around his biceps; the gombert around his neck; given his ilbi-jerri, a sharp and narrow bone or nose-peg; and his branjep, the apron worn by men to cover their genitals. At the end of the ceremony Barack presented his uncle, Billibellary, a possumskin cloak. Beruk attended the government's Yarra Mission School from 1837 to 1839. When he joined the Native Mounted Police in 1844, he was given the name of William Barak. He was Police Trooper No.19. In early 1863, Barak moved to Coranderrk Station, near Healesville, Victoria with about thirty others. Upon the death of Simon Wonga in 1875, Barak became the Ngurungaeta of the clan. He worked tirelessly for his people and was a successful negotiator on their behalf. He was a highly respected man and leader, with standing amongst the Indigenous people and the European settlers. Figures in possum-skin cloaks, 1898 by William Barak.Barak is now best remembered for his artworks, which show both traditional Indigenous life and encounters with Europeans. Most of Barak's drawings were completed at Coranderrk during the 1880s and 1890s. They are now highly prized and exhibited in leading public galleries in Australia. His work is on permanent display in the National Gallery of Victoria Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square, Melbourne. Ceremony (1895) is housed at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. Barak died at Coranderrk in 1903 and is buried at the Coranderrk cemetery.
alexander wetterling

Jennie A. Brownscombe
Jennie Augusta Brownscombe American, 1850-1936 She has been called "a kind of Norman Rockwell of her era." In fact, the skillful drawing, attention to detail, and nostalgic moods of her paintings make the comparison between Jennie Augusta Brownscombe and the popular American illustrator seem quite apt. Brownscombe's early life sounds like the story behind one of her own pictures. Born in a log cabin in rural northeastern Pennsylvania, she was the only child of William Brownscombe, an English-born farmer, and Elvira Kennedy, a direct descendant of a Mayflower passenger, who encouraged her young daughter to write poetry and draw. Brownscombe won her first awards as a high school student, exhibiting her work at the Wayne County Fair. When her father died in 1868, Brownscombe began supporting herself through teaching, creating book and magazine illustrations, and selling the rights to reproduce her watercolor and oil paintings as inexpensive prints, Christmas cards, and calendars. More than 100 of Brownscombe's works were distributed this way, spreading her images into homes throughout the nation.