were. From the many distinctive characteristics of our great America will come marked and individualized schools from the various sections; then there will be a native art. Indiana artists have been the first in the West to recognize and express purely local conditions in their motifs and coloring, as the Hudson River School was in the art world of the East.

The work of these men was distinctly provincial and their method highly specialized-at one time it was thought too much so, but that cannot be said of any art to-day. The interest of the Hoosier Group is in the scenery of their own state. They have given pictorial expression to something as indigenous to Indiana as the poetry of James Whitcomb Riley and other literary men. They never fail to delineate the native charm, devoting their time to the problems of light, color, and atmosphere, which has a peculiar fascination in early spring and late autumn. These men never condescend to the general demand on the part of the public for work of a popular nature; they are never accused of debauching public taste.

Their earlier paintings were dark and brown, their brush-work unctuous, resembling the work and influence of the masters in the foreign academies; but, working without restraint and feeling the new influence, the spirit of Indiana scen

ery, the inspiration of the sunshine and shadows on wood and meadow, the personal feeling and the technique gradually changed in character, and soon they were using pure clean color, adding the lights, shades, and details with a strong brush, grasping an understanding and developing until each man was secure, having rightly formed his own style.

Almost ten years had passed in this time. Stark was painting with a touch of poetry and a touch of sentiment; Steele was making us feel the largeness of his compositions and the enveloping atmosphere; Adams was handling his touches of pure color with boldness, giving at once vibration and brilliancy of sunlight; Forsyth was painting with virility his broadly treated landscapes; while Gruelle, with his profound love for nature and his feeling for art, was following closely in the wake of those who had been more favored in their opportunity for study. Under the patronage of the Art Association of Indianapolis, a local exhibition of the work of these men was held in rooms at the Denison Hotel early in the winter of 1894. The artists represented were William Forsyth, Richard B. Gruelle, Otto Stark, and T. C. Steele. The distinctive name Hoosier Group dates from this exhibit.

During this exhibition Hamlin Garland came to Indianapolis to deliver a lecture, and was taken to see the work of the Indiana men. He was so favorably impressed that upon his return he presented the matter of taking the exhibition to Chicago. The Central Art Association considered it favorably and the artists sent their work. At the suggestion of T. C. Steele the work of J. Ottis Adams was added, since his pictures rightfully belonged in this first showing of Indiana artists.

Lorado Taft, Charles Francis Brown, and Hamlin Garland were called the "Critical Triumvirate," and the Central Art Association presented their second report in connection with this first special exhibit of the work of the five Hoosier painters. As an introduction they said in part:

For, aside from their inherent excellence as artists, the history of their development has special significance. It exemplifies all the difficulties in the way of original Western art and foreshadows its ultimate victory.

These men were isolated from their fellow-artists; they were surrounded by apparently the most unpromising material: yet they set themselves to their thankless task right manfully, and this exhibition demonstrates the power of the artist's eye to find floods of color, graceful forms, and interesting compositions everywhere.

These artists have helped the people of Indiana to see the beauty in their own quiet landscape. They have not only found interesting things to paint near at hand-they have made these chosen scenes interesting to others. Therein lies their significance.