William Forsyth (artist)
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William J. Forsyth (1854–March 29, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter who was part of the "
Hoosier Group The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists considered members of the Group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark. To ...
" of Indiana artists. Forsyth was the first student of the Indiana School of Art in Indianapolis and entered the Munich Academy along with
T. C. Steele Theodore Clement Steele (September 11, 1847 – July 24, 1926) was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes. Steele was an innovator and leader in American Midwest painting and is one of the most famous of Indiana ...
and
J. Ottis Adams John Ottis Adams (July 8, 1851 – January 28, 1927) was an American Impressionism, American impressionist Painting, painter and art educator who is best known as a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana landscape painters, along with William For ...
in 1882. He later returned to Indiana in 1888 and was instrumental in founding the
Herron School of Art Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...
in Indianapolis, serving as an instructor there until 1933. He died March 29, 1935, and was subsequently buried in Section 39, Lot 298
Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high point ...
in Indianapolis, Indiana. Driving east from the SW corner of Section 39,a pink granite monument has been erected to honor the memory of Forsyth (several rows back), together with a bronze
bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
portrait of the artist (attached thereto). Forsyth is one of the five members of Indiana's most important group of artists, the Hoosier Group. His work is in many important private collections and several museums including the
Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art The Haan Mansion Museum of Indiana Art is a public museum in Lafayette, Indiana, housing the largest collection of Indiana art anywhere in the world. The museum is located in the Potter-Haan Mansion at 920 E State Street. The museum's collection ...
, Indiana State Museum, and
Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...
.


Background

It was perhaps no accident that William Forsyth described his teacher, John Love, as a "tall, . . . blond giant." He was the opposite, and many of his friends and students, and even his daughters, thought that explained a lot about his personality, described by one as that of a "little cocky bantam rooster" whose stature was shorter than most men, which many believed was the catalyst to a "feisty way about him, to make up for his height." - (Judith Vale Newton, The
Hoosier Group The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists considered members of the Group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark. To ...
(Indianapolis, Eckert Publications, 1985), 131.) Forsyth's "feistiness" earned a reputation for a quick temper and for being "ornery", a lover of a good argument. Wilbur Peat, describing the Indianapolis art scene in the 1870s in his "Pioneer Painters of Indiana," remarked that "it is doubtful if the city had anyone among its youthful citizens, with so much zeal for things artistic as he (Forsyth), and with such determination to reach the top in the practice of painting" (p. 205). Short in stature, Forsyth became very well known in the history of art in Indiana, and especially among those artists buried at Crown Hill.


Early life

Forsyth was born in 1854 in California, Ohio, a small town along the Ohio River, not far from
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. The view of the river was among his earliest memories, and to see it again in his adult life, always elicited a wave of strong emotions. Much like Jacob Cox, he soon began drawing on any canvas that was available, which at first was too often the walls of the family home. But rather than punish him, his parents assigned a large mantel in a vacant room, especially painted black for the purpose, as the appropriate place for his artistic expressions. Among the scenes Forsyth recalled sketching there with colored chalks were pictures of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
soldiers he would see marching home past as he played outside. When he was ten, the family moved to
Versailles, Indiana Versailles is a town in Johnson Township, Ripley County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 2,113 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of Ripley County. History It was decided in 1818 a county seat should be located at ...
, before coming to Indianapolis just a few years later. At the age of fifteen, he talked his dad into letting him study art with Barton S. Hays, who, with Jacob Cox, was one of the city's leading artists and a teacher of
William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...
and John Washington Love, but the lessons were too expensive for him to continue. In 1873, he and his brother John began a business painting houses. He used his free time to hang around artists' studios and visit galleries, traveling as far as New York. He often painted in the countryside, occasionally running across Love, who would be doing the same thing with some of his students. When Love and Gookins opened their Indiana School of Art in 1877, Forsyth was the first student to enroll, and because of his growing friendship with Love, and his becoming an assistant instructor after Gookins departed, he was the last to leave. To fill the void left by the school's closing, Forsyth and other local artists, including
Charles Joseph Fiscus Charles Joseph (C.J.) Fiscus was a pioneer Indiana artist (1861–1884) who specialized in landscapes, portraits, and still life, and played an important role in early Indiana art. Biography Indiana pioneer artist Charles Joseph (C.J.) Fiscus ...
(1861-1884), Frederick A. Hetherington (1859-1931), Thomas E. Hibben (1859-1915), Charles Nicolai (1856-1942), and Frank Edwin Scott (1863-1929) formed the Bohé Club (Bohemian Club was too long to fit on a sign on the door window). This allowed them to maintain some studio space in the same building the art school had been in, and to have a place to gather in which to discuss art and to sally forth from as they traveled on sketching tours south of Indianapolis to places such as
Brown County, Indiana Brown County is a county in Indiana which in 2010 had a population of 15,242. The county seat (and only incorporated town) is Nashville. History The United States acquired the land from the Native Americans, part of which forms the southwest s ...
.


Studies in Europe

Forsyth continued to desire more formal training as an artist. His close friend, Theodore Clement Steele, was already studying abroad in Munich, and when another good friend, Thomas Hibben, whose family owned a local dry goods store, offered to finance Forsyth's own studies abroad in exchange for one-half of the paintings he did while abroad, he packed according to Steele's recommendations and was soon studying with Steele at the Royal Academy of Munich. Munich, besides being where Steele was already, was both cheaper and more accepting of foreigners than the schools of Paris. His formal studies there began in April 1882. Frequent letters to Hibben describe much about the progress of both Forsyth and Steele, and the financial strains of study abroad. Forsyth and Steele used their summer vacations to paint as they traveled around Europe, and then send the paintings home to Hibben to sell at exhibitions such as one he conducted late in 1885 at the English Hotel called "An Art Exhibit of the Hoosier Colony in Muchen". These letters also revealed Forsyth's goal as an artist. Of one teacher, Forsyth writes: "To certain extent his influence is for good, and I shall try to get all the good out of him I can, but as for becoming
ike him Ike or IKE may refer to: People * Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname ...
that is out of the question. I'll be myself or nothing." (quoted by Judith Vale Newton, The Hoosier Group, 121.) This is a precursor of how his daughter, Constance Forsyth, an artist in her own right, summed up his career: "Perhaps his most outstanding characteristic was his independence. He painted what he wanted to paint and in the way he wanted to paint it. He preferred to work in his own way, regardless of what other artists were exploiting in the way of styles and fads. He was never the kind of artist that followed theories or intellectual ideas about what or how to paint. He very early, before studying abroad, developed his own brush technique which varied very little over the years. Even though the general look of his work changed over periods of time, that same technique was still there." Another letter foretells his future involvement with a group of artists whose goal would be to interpret a particular region "in all the varying moods that are its charm" to the world at large: "Love Hoosierdom? I should think so, there's many a woodland nook and breezy field and quiet brookside that is consecrated ground to me."


Career

Forsyth finished his studies in the spring of 1886 but stayed in Europe another two years, sharing a studio with
J. Ottis Adams John Ottis Adams (July 8, 1851 – January 28, 1927) was an American Impressionism, American impressionist Painting, painter and art educator who is best known as a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana landscape painters, along with William For ...
, who would also later be called one of the
Hoosier Group The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists considered members of the Group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark. To ...
. Returning to Indiana in September 1888, he was soon assisting Adams at an art school in Fort Wayne. Growing tired of the commute, the two opened their own school in
Muncie Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the seat of Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs/lenape-villages.pdf It is located in ...
, where Adams was living, in the fall of 1889. While there, he became the teacher of well-known American Impressionist painter
Francis Focer Brown Francis Focer Brown (January 19, 1891 – April 14, 1971) was an American Impressionist painter, as well as professor and head of the Fine Arts Department at Ball State Teachers College (present-day Ball State University) in Muncie, Indiana ...
and his wife Beulah H. Brown. But Forsyth left after the spring term of 1891 to live again in Indianapolis. Here he joined Steele, and became a principal instructor in Steele's Indiana School of Art, which was located on the circle. Steele resigned in 1895, but Forsyth stayed on to teach both day and evening classes until June 1897, when the school was torn down to make way for an expansion of the English Hotel. It was during this period that the 1894 exhibition of the works of Forsyth, Steele,
Otto Stark Otto Stark (January 29, 1859 – April 14, 1926) was an American Impressionist painter muralist, commercial artist, printmaker, and illustrator from Indianapolis, Indiana, who is best known as one of the five Hoosier Group artists. Stark's work ...
, and
Richard Gruelle Richard Buckner Gruelle (February 22, 1851 – November 8, 1914) was an American Impressionist painter, illustrator, and author, who is best known as one of the five Hoosier Group artists. Gruelle's masterwork is ''The Canal—Morning Effect'' ( ...
at the Denison Hotel attracted the attention that led to the
Hoosier Group The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists considered members of the Group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark. To ...
exposition in Chicago, which also included works by Adams. The attention given to this exhibition, and the mood that had created it, led to his joining together with Steele, Adams, and fifteen other Midwestern artists to form the Society of Western Artists in 1896. He remained a member until it disbanded in 1914 and participated in its annual shows, which were held all around the Midwest in order to guarantee the artists a place to show, and thus sell, their works each year. As he had in Europe, Forsyth always reserved a few weeks in the summer in which to travel and paint with friends. In 1897, he brought along two of his sisters, and one of his pupils, Alice Atkinson. Chances are he brought his sisters along so that he could ask Alice to come too. The trip that year was to a friend's childhood home, a farm along the Ohio River near
Brandenburg, Kentucky Brandenburg is a home rule-class city on the Ohio River in Meade County, Kentucky, in the United States. The city is southwest of Louisville. It is the seat of its county. The population was 2,643 at the 2010 census. History Brandenburg w ...
. When the time for painting wound down in the fall, William and Alice made their way up river to Louisville where they were married at the Grace Episcopal Church in Louisville on October 14, 1897. They returned to the farm for their honeymoon, and winter had set in before they made their way back to Indianapolis. With the art school closed, Forsyth began offering classes on his own during the winter and spring months and painting in various places in Indiana and Kentucky during the summer. Three daughters were born: Dorothy in 1899, Constance in 1903, and Evelyn in 1906. To provide the family with a more country feel all year round, he moved his family in the spring of 1906 from 938 Fletcher Avenue to 15 South Emerson Avenue in the small town of Irvington, with its winding wooded streets and
Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...
campus. He attached a studio to the house and planted many gardens of flowers, eternally frustrated that his roses would never grow quite right. In the fall of 1906 he joined the faculty of the
Herron School of Art Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...
, replacing his friend
J. Ottis Adams John Ottis Adams (July 8, 1851 – January 28, 1927) was an American Impressionism, American impressionist Painting, painter and art educator who is best known as a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana landscape painters, along with William For ...
as the principal instructor of drawing and painting. The school had recently outgrown its beginnings in what had been an old house Steele had lived in at 16th and Pennsylvania, and had just moved into its new building at the same site. It was to be a long association, one from which his former students recalled him both as a fiery, sometimes tactless and sarcastic teacher, and as their lifelong friend and encourager. Forsyth's students included Florence Smithburn, Alice Woods Ullman, and Louise Zaring. In 1914, Forsyth varied his usual summer schedule to supervise the painting of 33 murals throughout the Indianapolis City Hospital. He himself painted a large landscape for the entrance hall, while he enlisted Steele, Stark, Adams, and eleven other Hoosier artists to do works in other parts of the building, including many gaily painted scenes of childhood stories for the Children's Ward. All of them worked for house painter's wages, and while Steele and Adams had provided works from their studios in southern Indiana, several of the artists lived at the hospital while executing their murals. For those involved, it seemed to capture the spirit of creating together that they had had in their earlier days but lost as success had led them each in more widely scattered directions.


Later life and death

In 1933, the economic pressures of the Great Depression led the school's administrator to let him go, along with daughter Constance, Paul Hadley, and five other teachers. The students protested by hanging an effigy of the director from one of the trees on the campus. Forsyth, though well into his seventies, had not been prepared for his abrupt dismissal from Herron, either emotionally or financially. He received a commission for some Public Works Administration pieces for the
Indiana State Library The Indiana State Library and Historical Bureau is a public library building, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the largest public library in the state of Indiana, housing over 60,000 manuscripts. Established in 1934, the library has gather ...
, two of which now hang on the fourth floor of the
Indiana State Museum The Indiana State Museum is a museum located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum houses exhibits on the science, art, culture, and history of Indiana from prehistoric times to the present day. History The original collec ...
. His daughters Dorothy and Constance contributed financially, and Alice tried to make do with less. In February 1934, he experienced a heart attack. Never recovering completely, he would sit outdoors as much as possible, surrounded by his family, friends, and flowers, and try to do a little painting each day. On March 29, 1935, he finally succumbed to kidney failure. Forsyth, in his 1916 essay entitled "Art in Indiana," written for the state's centennial, was perhaps the best spokesman for this Hoosier group of artists and the following could easily serve as his epitaph:


References

* Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana by Tom Davis * Burnet, Mary Q. Art and Artists of Indiana. New York; The Century Co., 1921. * Gerdts, William H. and Newton, Judith Vale. The
Hoosier Group The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists considered members of the Group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark. To ...
: Five American Painters. Indianapolis: Eckert Publications, 1985. * Krause, Martin. The Passage: Return of Indiana Painters from Germany, 1880–1905. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1990.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, William 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters American Impressionist painters Artists from Indianapolis 1854 births 1935 deaths Indiana University people Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery Hoosier Group landscape painters Irvington Group landscape painters Place of birth missing Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists Indianapolis Museum of Art people