Indy’s art scene today is vibrant. Numerous venues exhibit the works of many local artists and local galleries give patrons an opportunity to add contemporary and vintage art to their collections. Public art may be seen in the city’s open spaces and on the walls of buildings large and small. First Fridays provide an opportunity for the public to visit artists in their studios and see finished works and those in progress.
A century ago, things were quite different — exhibits were held at John Herron Art Institute; L. S. Ayres & Co, The H. Lieber Co, Lyman Bros., Charles Mayer & Co. and Edward E. Petri & Co. provided the only gallery spaces. Public art consisted of the few statues around government buildings, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and funerary works at Crown Hill Cemetery. Many artists worked from their East Market Street studios and others created a studio space in their homes. While most of them lived near downtown Indianapolis, a few artists lived five miles east of the city center in the suburb of Irvington.
Since its founding, Irvington had been the home of artists. John Julian, son of one of Irvington’s co-founders, was an accomplished drawer in pen and ink who entertained his family and friends with his illustrations. His wife, Mellie Ingles Julian, was an art teacher, watercolorist, china painter, and one of the illustrators of Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book (1893). Before becoming a member of his family’ wholesale dry goods business, Thomas E. Hibben, Sr was an accomplished etcher and photographer. He was also an art patron who financed artist William Forsyth’s studies in Germany.
In the spring of 1901, the Irvington community showed its support for art by holding an exhibit featuring works by well-known Hoosier Group artists T. C. Steele, William Forsyth, Otto Stark, and Richard Gruelle. Local artists were included, along with a large display of art done by students from Manual Training High School and pupils of the Irvington School. Several watercolors by Myrtle Taylor, instructor of art at Butler College, were also part of the exhibit along with cartoons by Frank S. Bowers and illustrations by Walter H. Gallaway, Indianapolis News staff artists. The successful exhibit benefited the newly built public school with the installation of a reproduction of “a lovely Greek frieze from the Parthenon.”
A favorite subject of Irvington artists has long been the tree-bordered stream, Pleasant Run. One of the earliest works in the collection of the Irvington Historical Society is N. Arlington Av Bridge Over Pleasant Run (c.1885) by May Blount Conner. In 1906 William Forsyth, chief instructor at John Herron Art Institute, moved to Irvington from the 900 block of Fletcher Ave. to join that community’s small colony of artists He said that the proximity of Pleasant Run to his home on the southeast corner of Emerson Ave. and East Washington St. was what brought him to Irvington.
In 1914, Forsyth was placed in charge of “the most ambitious and monumental work yet undertaken by Indianapolis artists,” the murals of the children’s wards in the Burdsal units of the city hospital. Among the artists he selected for this work were Irvingtonians Simon Baus, Dorothy Morlan, and Clifton Wheeler. Irvington sculptor Helene Hibben was also selected to design the bronze dedication plaque. Fourteen years later, these artists were invited to join other Irvington artists to show at an exhibit sponsored by the Irvington Union of Clubs.
The automobile salesroom at Carr’s Hall, 5436 E. Washington St., was the venue for the Irvington Art Exhibit that opened Saturday afternoon, December 1, 1928. An estimated 1,000 people were in attendance to see oil and watercolor landscapes, florals, and portraits by William Forsyth, his daughter Constance Forsyth, Clifton Wheeler and his wife Hilah Wheeler, Simon Baus, Robert C. Craig, and Dorothy Morlan. Black and white illustrations by Frederick Polley and Thomas E. Hibben, Jr, and sculpture by Helene Hibben were also on display. Forsyth, the dean of Irvington artists, gave a talk in which he said, “Although you may not have realized it, we artists who live among you are a part of you for we put your thoughts and feelings into our pictures.”
The success of the 1928 Irvington Art Exhibit led to a decade of successive shows. Dubbed “the Irvington Group” by Indianapolis Star art critic Lucille Morehouse, additional members joined as talented Irvington artists Carolyn Bradley, Robert Selby, Charles Yeager, Martha Lee Frost, Paul Baus (son of Simon Baus), William F. Kaeser, and Alice Dimmick Cook were invited to show at future exhibits. Each exhibit featured gallery talks by the artists and others knowledgeable in the arts. Frequently visitors were entertained during the show by Simon Baus painting a demonstration portrait like the one he did in 1930 of Irvington’s 95-year-old Civil War veteran James Stevenson. The “lightning portrait” completed in 45 minutes, was “pronounced a remarkable likeness.”
The death of William Forsyth earlier in the year turned the 1935 Irvington Art Exhibit into a tribute to the dean of the Irvington Group with a display of his works “in memoriam.” The following year, in a departure from previous shows, the Irvington Art Exhibit changed its venue from Carr’s Hall to five studios of participating artists — the studio of Dorothy Morlan, 6034 Lowell Ave., where her paintings and those of Simon Baus were shown; the studio home of Clifton and Hilah Wheeler, 5317 Lowell Ave., shared their display space with Robert C. Craig; the studio of Charles Yeager, 53 Campbell Av, exhibited his pictures in various mediums with a sculpture group by Paul Baus; the studio home of Constance Forsyth, 15 S. Emerson Av, displayed her oils, watercolors, and prints together with paintings by Robert Selby (her brother-in-law) and a sculpture by Helene Hibben. The adjacent atelier of William Forsyth was also open so visitors could see his works; and the studio of William Kaeser, 333 S. Emerson Ave., displayed “his skill in designing harmonious color compositions, evident in the three mediums – oil, pastel, and watercolor.” Transportation was arranged to convey exhibition visitors to and from the studios.
From December 1 to 5, 1937 the 10th annual Irvington Art Exhibit returned to Carr’s Hall. Sadly, this was the last of the Irvington Group shows sponsored by the Irvington Union of Clubs. In the ensuing years, individual Irvington Group artists would have solo shows or exhibit with the Hoosier Salon and Indiana Artists Club. On Saturday, June 3, 2023 an exhibit of the Irvington Group, with representative works by most of the artists, will open at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 E. University Ave.. The show will run through April 2024.