J. Ottis Adams

J. Ottis Adams, ca. 1910

Courtesy of Minnetrista Heritage Collection, Muncie, Indiana

John Ottis Adams had become interested in art and drawing at a young age. It was his high school art teacher, however, who encouraged Adams to develop his talents further after seeing his skill at making hand-crafted maps. After just a year at Wabash College (1871), Adams traveled to England to get a traditional European art education at South Kensington School in London (October 1872). He took a part-time job at a photography studio there to help pay his way and spent his free time copying the works of the master painters at London’s National Gallery.

By the end of 1874, Adams returned to Indiana, moving around before settling in Muncie in 1876. Here he set up a portrait studio and earned income through tinting photographs. Not ready to end his formal education, however, Adams travelled to Europe yet again.

Still Life, J. Ottis Adams, 1867-68

Adams painted Still Life at just 16 years old, and it was the first painting he sold.

Courtesy of Wabash College Ramsay Archives

Adams enrolled at the Royal Academy in Munich on October 15, 1880. His schooling was funded by Indiana art patrons. In return, Adams sent them copies of masterworks that he painted in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek gallery. After several years of study, Adams set up his own studio in Munich in 1885, which he shared with William Forsyth for a year. He focused his work on painting the German countryside.

Head of an Old Woman, J. Ottis Adams, 1882

This sketch was done by Adams while he was studying in Munich, Germany, at the Royal Academy.

From the collection of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

In 1887, Adams returned to Muncie and taught art classes there, in Fort Wayne, and in Union City several nights each week. To lessen this grueling schedule, he enlisted the help of William Forsyth to take over some classes in 1888. Weary of the commute, Adams and Forsyth opened their own school, Muncie Art School, in the fall 1889. The school remained open for only two years.

A few years later, the Central Art Association invited Adams to contribute two paintings, along with Steele, Forsyth, Gruelle, and Stark, to the 1894 exhibition in Chicago where they became known as the Hoosier Group. Two years later, he joined the Society of Western Artists along with Steele and Forsyth.

J. Ottis Adams in His Studio at The Hermitage, ca. 1910

Minnetrista Heritage Collection, Muncie, Indiana

On October 1, 1898, Adams married Winifred Brady. The pair first met when Brady attended one of Adam’s classes in Muncie. Brady studied art in both Philadelphia and New York City and was known for her excellent still life work. The next several years, the couple spent their summers at the Hermitage in Brookville, the house Adams owned with Steele, and winters in Indianapolis.

Still interested in art education, Adams began helping plan the Herron school and gallery in 1901. He later joined the faculty, first sharing a painting class with Otto Stark, then becoming principal instructor of drawing and painting for four years. While teaching, he also rented studio space with Steele and Gruelle at Hartford Block Studios on East Market Street to continue painting outside of the classroom.

Adams resigned from teaching in 1906, though he still taught the occasional class, including a summer landscape-painting course at the Hermitage. He spent his later years traveling between Michigan, Indiana, and Florida painting the contrasting landscapes.