The Pierce Children

Theodore Clement Steele was the leading American Impressionist in the Midwest, working in Indiana at a remove from the eastern art world centers that dominated American painting. His 1887 portrait of the Pierce children at the Indianapolis Museum of Art belongs to his important body of figure work, bringing to children's portraiture the fresh, direct observation of his Impressionist training. Steele had studied in Munich and absorbed the technical skills needed for both landscape and figure work. The Indianapolis Museum of Art holds a significant Steele collection appropriate to his importance as Indiana's most celebrated painter.

The children's portrait is rendered with Impressionist freshness — the specific character of the young subjects captured without academic posturing or adult formality. Steele's Munich-trained technique handles the children's faces with confident observation. His palette is naturalistic and warm, the Impressionist influence evident in the quality of light across the composition.