William Forsyth

William Forsyth was a Hoosier Group artist who worked in Indiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An argumentative and feisty man, Forsyth insisted on painting his own subjects his own way, eschewing styles and fads. He studied at formal art schools in the United States before embarking on multiple trips to Europe. Most notably, he studied in Munich, Germany with fellow Hoosier artists T. C. Steele and J. Ottis Adams. Forsyth’s paintings verge on both Impressionism and Romanticism, emphasizing both the majestic essence and grandeur of nature, as well as the material qualities of his brushes and paint. After receiving commissions from the Indiana State Library and the Indianapolis City Hospital, and induction into the Indiana State Museum, Forsyth was commemorated with a large gravestone and brass relief portrait in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.