Hoosier salon

DEFINITION

Created in 1925 by a group calling themselves Daughters of Indiana, these original founders were Chicago women who determined that artists of Indiana needed more encouragement. They organized exhibitions as a method for recognition and painting sales. The leader was Estella King, a native of Peru, Indiana, who chaired the Art Committee. They chose the name, Hoosier Salon, to combine the slang name for Indiana with the more formal name used for art exhibitions. The first exhibition of the Hoosier Salon was March 1925 in the art galleries of Marshall Field & Company in Chicago. From that time, the exhibitions have had generally high attendance and financial success except during the Depression and World War II. The exhibitions continued at Marshall Field department store galleries from 1925-1941. Succeeding venues were William H. Block Company, 1942 to 1977, and L.S. Ayres & Company, 1978-1989. In the 1990s and forward, the Hoosier Salon exhibitions were at the Indiana State Museum. Source: Judith Newton and Carol Weiss, "A Grand Tradition: The Art and Artists of the Hoosier Salon, 1925-1990"