Campus Studio
Franklin Hall, Indiana University
601 E. Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
Latitude: 39.16708°N, Longitude: 86.52677°W
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T.C. Steele’s Campus Studio at Indiana University
From 1922 to 1926, T.C. Steele served as artist in residence at Indiana University, with a spacious studio spanning the top floor of Franklin Hall.
Steele’s association with the university began in the 1890s when he received commissions to paint portraits of several professors. In 1907, while IU president William Lowe Bryan sat for his portrait, the two men became friends.
“The arts are as important to the University as scholarship.”
IU President William Lowe Bryan
During the state’s centennial in 1916, Steele’s paintings were on display at the campus and he received an honorary doctorate from Indiana University.
A Prestigious Appointment
In 1922 President Bryan proposed to the Trustees a new honorary role for Steele at Indiana University stating, “… the arts are as important to the University as scholarship”. The Trustees voted to approve this position of Honorary Professor of Painting and Steele became the first artist in residence.
T.C. Steele’s studio on the top floor of Franklin Hall, circa 1923. Courtesy, The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. 2, 3, 4
During the period of time Steele was the first artist in residence (1911-1926) he and his wife Selma made Bloomington their home from fall to spring and spent the other half of the year at their home and studio in Brown County, known as “House of the Singing Winds”. In his spacious campus studio, located on the top floor of the University Library (now Franklin Hall), Steele welcomed students to visit him during his six-month annual residency over the winter. Weather permitting, Steele would take his portable easel and paint outdoors.
IU President William Lowe Bryant observes T.C. Steele painting in Dunn Meadow 5; T.C. Steele stands outside Franklin Hall, 1926. 6; Herman B Wells observes T.C. Steele painting in Dunn Meadow, 1923 7
“If Mr. Steele is painting when you visit the studio, he continues to paint, and you may either wander about looking at the canvases on the walls or watch him work.”
IU student, 1923
About Franklin Hall
Constructed in 1907, Franklin Hall is just inside the Sample Gates, the main pedestrian entrance to the 1860 acre-campus. The gates are constructed of Indiana limestone and stand as two welcoming pillars at the edge of Old Crescent, the historic site of IU’s first campus buildings between 1884-1908.
The Franklin Hall groundbreaking took place on April 14, 1906.8 ; Franklin Hall, circa 1910.9
A historical marker approved by Indiana University was approved by Indiana University President Michael McRobbie for Steele’s role at Indiana University as Honorary professor of Painting. The marker was installed as part of Indiana University’s Bicentennial celebration during the 2019 – 2020 academic year. The marker can be found outside of Franklin Hall, located in the grassy area, just off the public sidewalk on N. Indiana Avenue, between E. Kirkwood and E. 6th Street. The Sample Gates (gateway to campus) are less than 50 yards away to the north of the marker and Dunn Meadow is just to the south of the marker.
Explore the Area
As you walk down Indiana Avenue from the Sample Gates, you will see the historical marker approved and installed by Indiana University.
Take a walk around this beautiful English Gothic building originally called the Library Building and housed the library of Indiana University. Also, weather permitting, relax in Dunn Meadow, a 20 acres green space on N. Indiana Avenue, behind Franklin Hall. Dunn Meadow’s north border is 7th street and the west board is Indiana Avenue.
The Indiana Memorial Union Board bought seven of Steele’s paintings in 1923, starting a campus collection that has acquired more than 75 Steele paintings including the portrait of IU President William Lowe Bryan. Bryan (1860-1955) served as the 10th president of Indiana University from 1902-1937. Steele’s famous painting The Boatman (1884), which won a Silver Medal at the Royal Academy Exhibition in Munich, Germany. This painting hangs in Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University.
Related Steele Works
The Boatman
1884, Oil on Canvas
In the 1880s, T.C. Steele studied in Munich, Germany, where he was trained in the “gray manner,” a realist, academic style characterized by a muted palette, precise underdrawing, and chiaroscuro. Painted in 1884 as his student exhibition piece at Munich’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Boatman, one of Steele’s finest early works, sharply contrasts with his later, and better-known, Impressionist paintings of the southern Indiana landscape. Distinguished by its skillful depiction of the strain of physical labor, The Boatman won a Silver Medal from the Munich academy.
Observatory at Indiana University
1888, Oil on Canvas
The observatory is one of Steele’s most well-known paintings of those painted on the Indiana University Campus. The observatory in the painting, built in 1900, is named after Daniel Kirkwood, an astronomer and IU professor of mathematics, who discovered the Kirkwood Gaps in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in 1866. The facility contains a 12-inch refractor telescope and other astronomical equipment.
The observatory is no longer used by the University for research, but is still used for instructional purposes, and outreach events. Viewing is available every clear Wednesday evening when classes are not in session. Located at 119 S. Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN.
A Corner in the Old Kitchen of the Mittenheim Cloister
1883, Oil on Canvas
This early-eighteenth-century cloister in Mittenheim, Germany was established in 1716. The buildings of the monastery, which were later used as farm buildings remain today. Mittenheim is 22 kilometers (13 miles) north of Munich, next to the village of Schleissheim where the Steeles lived while in Germany (1880-1885).
This painting hangs in the Tudor Room, located inside the Indiana University Memorial Union, one of the world’s largest college unions.
Nearby Attractions
Indiana University Memorial Union
Most weekdays and Sundays, you can complement your visit to IU with lunch at the Indiana Memorial Union’s Tudor Room. The Tudor Room’s Elizabethan décor provides an atmosphere of elegance in the pinnacle of collegiate gothic architecture. See Steele’s A Corner in the Old Kitchen of the Mittenheim Cloister in person, immerse yourself in historical architecture, and dine in a relaxing atmosphere where china and table linens are still in vogue. The Tudor Room is recognized as having one of the best Sunday bunches in Bloomington. Several other Steele’s are on display in the Indiana Memorial Union as well.
Tudor Room
A Corner in the Old Kitchen of the MIttenheim Cloister, 1883 – a.k.a. Cloister Kitchen
While in the Tudor Room, be sure to look for a portrait of T.C. Steele painted by Hoosier Artist Wayman Adams, best known for his portraits of well-known people, including four US presidents.
Mezzanine Level
- Go to Memorial Union Lobby, walk up steps or take elevator to Mezzanine Level
- Walk to the University Bookstore and Sugar & Spice Bakery – when here, do an about-face and begin walking back toward the stairs you came up. Look for the T.C. Steele paintings below on both sides of the Mezzanine Hallway (three on north side & one on southside) of Mezzanine Hallway.
Strength of the Hills, 1914 • The Cabin, undated • Road Through the Woods, 1919 • Untitled, 1913
Tree Suites Meeting Rooms – Hallway
As you continue walking east (past stairwell) look for overhead hallway sign that reads Three Suite Meeting Rooms and look in the hallway for:
Untitled, 1913 • Margaret “Nellie Owens, 1887 • Elisha Ballantine, 1895 • Theophilus Adam Wylie, 1895
State Room West
(2nd Floor, corner of hallway near Biddle Hotel rooms)
Look for the T.C. Steele paintings below: Note: this room may be occupied, when you visit, if door is open, please take the opportunity to see these paintings.
Morning on the Jordan, 1923 • Winding Road, 1912 • Untitled, n.d. • Library on Campus, 1923 • First Tints of Autumn, 1925 • Spirit of the Garden, 1919 • The Cloud, 1919
“It has been said that Winding Road is one of the best paintings of the 20th century.”
Rand McKamey, Indiana Memorial Union Art preparator and artist 11
Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
The Boatman (1884) which won a Silver Medal at the Royal Academy Exhibition in Munich Germany is on permanent display in the museum, located in the European and American Art Gallery.
Suggested Itinerary
- Find the historical marker for T.C. Steele’s campus studio north of the Sample Gates, outside Franklin Hall.
- Stamp your digital passport at Franklin Hall.
- View A Corner in the Old Kitchen of the Mittenheim Cloister and dine at the Tudor Room.
- Find three other Steele paintings on the mezzanine level of the Indiana Memorial Union.
- Enjoy a walk through Dunn Meadow or Dunn Woods.
- Visit the Eskenazi Museum of Art and view The Boatman.
References
1 Rudd, Eric. Fall Campus Beauty. The Trustees of Indiana University, October 21, 2016. https://images.iu.edu.
2 Hohenberger, Frank Michael. T.C. Steele’s studio, I.U studio in Student Services Bldg. Image Collections Online. The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/hohenberger/Hoh049.004.0002.1.
3 Hohenberger, Frank Michael. T. C. Steele Studio. Archives Photograph Collection. The IU Digital Library Program. Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/photos/P0027138.
4 T.C. Steele’s studio, I.U studio in Student Services Bldg. Image Collections Online. The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. . Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/hohenberger/Hoh049.004.0002.2..
5 Hohenberger, Frank Michael. IU campus, Mr. Steele painting. Image Collections Online. The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/hohenberger/Hoh009.000.0148.
6 T.C. Steele. Archives Photograph Collection. The IU Digital Library Program . Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/photos/P0027142.
7 Ogle, Ralph H. T.C. Steele and Herman B Wells. Archives Photograph Collection. The IU Digital Library Program . Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/photos/P0027137.
8 Laying of new library (now Franklin Hall) cornerstone. Archives Photograph Collection. The IU Digital Library Program. Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/photos/P0022451.
9 Franklin Hall. Archives Photograph Collection. The IU Digital Library Program. Accessed May 31, 2023. http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/archives/photos/P0052780.
10 Sample Gates HD Version. Flickr. IT Communications Office, Indiana University. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.flickr.com/photos/insideuits/20359410329/.
11 McKamey, Rand. “Placard next to Painting,” n.d.
