In the Garden

Probably purchased from the artist by Carl H. Leiber [1866-1929], Indianapolis, Indiana, between 1916 and 1920; {1} Mrs. Carl Lieber [1871-1960], née Meta Pantzer, Indianapolis, Indiana; {2} to her daughter, Lili Lieber Hofmann [1895-1970], Indianapolis, Indiana, after 1934; to her daughter, Charlotte Bose [1920-2013], Indianapolis, Indiana; given by her estate to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2014. {1} The loan card for the Twenty-third Exhibition of American Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum, May 26 to July 31, 1916, which included In the Garden, catalogue no. 76, indicates that the painting was owned by the artist. In the Garden was displayed in an exhibition at the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana (now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields) titled Paintings by William Forsyth, November 7-28, 1920, catalogue no. 8; see Rachel Berenson Perry, William J. Forsyth: The Life and Work of an Indiana Artist, Bloomington, 2014, p. 127. On November 14, 1920, The Indianapolis Star listed Carl Lieber as a lender to the exhibition; see Lucille E. Morehouse, “Forsyth’s Work Wins Praise at Art Institute,” Indianapolis Star, November 14, 1920, p. 37. {2} On the IMA’s Temporary Receipt No. 3105 for an exhibition titled Retrospective of William Forsyth at the John Herron Art Institute in 1934, Mrs. Carl H. Lieber was listed as the lender of In the Garden. See also The Bulletin of the Art Association of Indianapolis Volume XXI, December 1934, p. 7.