GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In Drouth Stricken Area, one of Alexandre Hogue's Erosion series paintings, the formerly verdant landscape has been sculpted into sand dunes by the dry, hot wind. Under a searing hot sky, a starving cow waits numbly for water that will not come; perched on the rickety well, an equally patient buzzard awaits the cow’s inevitable death. The only movement in this arid landscape is the dust massing on the horizon, an ominous portent.
Drawings for the emaciated cow (1985.129) and windmill (1985.128) affirm the artist’s careful, deliberate abstraction of each component of the painting. In doing so, Hogue sacrificed naturalistic detail in order to achieve the emotional keynote of the landscape.
Adapted from
Sue Canterbury, Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Label text, 2014.
NOTES
This note was originally created and submitted by Erin Pinon, summer 2016. I am removing the #draft tag and requesting that the content be pulled from Brain and the Google Docs routing process so that I can review formatting, tagging, and text. After review, the note will be retagged with #draft and proceed to be harvested, routed, and revised as usual. (EAS, 8/26/2016)
This content comes from the note EAS had already started and should be compared to the content drafted by Erin Pinion, August 2016.
Although Alexandre Hogue was born in Missouri, his family moved to Denton, Texas, when he was six weeks old. During the 1930s, he taught art in Dallas, and in 1932 he helped found the Dallas Artists League. He was a driving force behind arts advocacy, yet he was one of the few artists of the period who did not work for the Works Progress Administration. Scorning the Regionalist label, Hogue denied the cheery face of American Scene painting favored by the Federal Arts administrators; more importantly, he refused to ennoble the element of human misery prevalent in so many dust-bowl images. Hogue blamed the region’s problems on man’s inept and thoughtless overcultivation of the land, and viewed the plow as the principal agent of the disaster. In his words, prime grazing lands had been destroyed “first by fence, then by overplowing, now by drought.” Between 1933 and 1936, Hogue worked on a series of six paintings he called his Erosion series, examining variations on this theme.
In Drouth Stricken Area, one of his Erosion paintings, the formerly verdant landscape has been sculpted into sand dunes by the dry, hot wind. Under a searing hot sky, a starving cow waits numbly for water that will not come; perched on the rickety well, an equally patient buzzard awaits the cow’s inevitable death. The only movement in this arid landscape is the dust massing on the horizon, an ominous portent. Hogue deliberately intensified the conditions in his paintings in order to generate empathy within his viewers for the desert-like condition. He called this approach psychoreality. Similar to Stendahl’s Syndrome (in which viewers overcome by a work of art act out the emotions portrayed in the painting or sculpture), Hogue’s psychoreality was meant to draw attention to the actual conditions in the Midwest. Drawings for the emaciated cow and the windmill, also in the Dallas Museum of Art’s collections, affirm the artist’s careful, deliberate abstraction of each component of the painting. In doing so, Hogue sacrificed naturalistic detail in order to achieve the emotional keynote of the landscape.
Adapted from
Sue Canterbury, Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Label text, 2014.
One of the most searing images of the Depression-era Southwest, Drouth-
Stricken Area is part of Alexandre Hogue’s Erosion series, six paintings
executed between 1933 and 1936. As Hogue recalled: “My handling of the
Dust Bowl group of paintings was absolutely mine. I saw the Dust Bowl
happen, saw it coming. I was a youthful cowboy in Dalhart, Texas. It was
strictly grazing land, the most beautiful you ever saw.” The arid landscape,
with its exaggerated sharp edges, emaciated cow, and sun-bleached colors,
invokes the sheer hopelessness of the time, while the gathering dust at the
horizon line recalls the storms of the “Dirty Thirties.” Born in Missouri but
raised in Denton, Texas, Hogue was as outspoken an advocate for the arts
in Texas as he was critical of the depletion of its land. One of the founders
of the Dallas Art League, he exhibited at the 1936 Texas Centennial.
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 275.
See catalog on Piction-- Catalog from the exhibition 'Alexandre Hogue: Production Drawings,' October 15-November 3, 1944, at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in Dallas, Texas. Includes: essay, image, biographical note
Label text found in Dallas Nine folder in the education files:
DROUGHT STRICKEN AREA, 1934
Alexandre Hogue
(Born Memphis, Missouri, 1898)
oil on canvas
Dallas Art Association Purchase, 1945.6
During the 1930s, Hogue helped to establish the Dallas Artist League and the Lonestar Printmakers while teaching at Hockaday Junior College and executing murals in public places around Texas. Drought stricken Area is Hogue's masterpiece, voicing his anguish at the terrible consequences of generations of bad land management. Under a sickly yellow son laden with dust, and abandoned farm lies drowned under a sea of sand. A vulture, perhaps symbolizing man's callous depredations, waits for a starving cow to die.
Created in 1934
1/8/18
Completed the process of adding to TMS text entries.
Removed rule for constituent.
1/9
Added Object Number to Piction cataloging for audio assets.
1/10
Added Object Number to Piction cataloging for more audio assets.
Added TI note link
Fun fact source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/drought-or-drouth
Exhibition: Lone Star Regionalism :The Dallas Nine and their Circle 1928-1945, February 3, 1985-July 10, 1988
Related Objects
1985.129 Alexandre Hogue, Study for "Drouth Stricken Area"
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place depicted and place of origin: Texas (state/United States): TGN: 7007826
Place of origin: Southwest (general region/United States): TGN: 4010660
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE DO I ADD THIS TO TMS?
From 1945: Dallas Art Association, purchased from the artist. [1]
[1] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
- 15662418: UMO [Caption: A Conversation on Alexandre Hogue]
- 16086093: UMO [Caption: Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Sue Canterbury]
- 27172833: UMO [Caption: Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Gallery Talk Andrea Severins-Goins]
- 28775525: UMO [Caption: Alexandre Hogue Drouth Stricken Area, Clip from the Lone Star Regionalist: The Legacy of Jerry Bywaters]
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- The title of this work is spelled "drouth" instead of "drought" because until the mid-twentieth century both forms of the word were commonly used. The spelling "drouth" was pronounced "DROWTH," and according to Merriam-Webster this version is still used sometimes.
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Apply to objects where number equals 1945.6
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General Description
In Drouth Stricken Area, one of Alexandre Hogue's Erosion series paintings, the formerly verdant landscape has been sculpted into sand dunes by the dry, hot wind. Under a searing hot sky, a starving cow waits numbly for water that will not come; perched on the rickety well, an equally patient buzzard awaits the cow’s inevitable death. The only movement in this arid landscape is the dust massing on the horizon, an ominous portent.
Drawings for the emaciated cow (1985.129) and windmill (1985.128) affirm the artist’s careful, deliberate abstraction of each component of the painting. In doing so, Hogue sacrificed naturalistic detail in order to achieve the emotional keynote of the landscape.
Adapted from
Sue Canterbury, Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Label text, 2014.
Fun Facts
- The title of this work is spelled "drouth" instead of "drought" because until the mid-twentieth century both forms of the word were commonly used. The spelling "drouth" was pronounced "DROWTH," and according to Merriam-Webster this version is still used sometimes.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
This note was originally created and submitted by Erin Pinon, summer 2016. I am removing the #draft tag and requesting that the content be pulled from Brain and the Google Docs routing process so that I can review formatting, tagging, and text. After review, the note will be retagged with #draft and proceed to be harvested, routed, and revised as usual. (EAS, 8/26/2016)
This content comes from the note EAS had already started and should be compared to the content drafted by Erin Pinion, August 2016.
Although Alexandre Hogue was born in Missouri, his family moved to Denton, Texas, when he was six weeks old. During the 1930s, he taught art in Dallas, and in 1932 he helped found the Dallas Artists League. He was a driving force behind arts advocacy, yet he was one of the few artists of the period who did not work for the Works Progress Administration. Scorning the Regionalist label, Hogue denied the cheery face of American Scene painting favored by the Federal Arts administrators; more importantly, he refused to ennoble the element of human misery prevalent in so many dust-bowl images. Hogue blamed the region’s problems on man’s inept and thoughtless overcultivation of the land, and viewed the plow as the principal agent of the disaster. In his words, prime grazing lands had been destroyed “first by fence, then by overplowing, now by drought.” Between 1933 and 1936, Hogue worked on a series of six paintings he called his Erosion series, examining variations on this theme.
In Drouth Stricken Area, one of his Erosion paintings, the formerly verdant landscape has been sculpted into sand dunes by the dry, hot wind. Under a searing hot sky, a starving cow waits numbly for water that will not come; perched on the rickety well, an equally patient buzzard awaits the cow’s inevitable death. The only movement in this arid landscape is the dust massing on the horizon, an ominous portent. Hogue deliberately intensified the conditions in his paintings in order to generate empathy within his viewers for the desert-like condition. He called this approach psychoreality. Similar to Stendahl’s Syndrome (in which viewers overcome by a work of art act out the emotions portrayed in the painting or sculpture), Hogue’s psychoreality was meant to draw attention to the actual conditions in the Midwest. Drawings for the emaciated cow and the windmill, also in the Dallas Museum of Art’s collections, affirm the artist’s careful, deliberate abstraction of each component of the painting. In doing so, Hogue sacrificed naturalistic detail in order to achieve the emotional keynote of the landscape.
Adapted from
Sue Canterbury, Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Label text, 2014.
One of the most searing images of the Depression-era Southwest, Drouth-
Stricken Area is part of Alexandre Hogue’s Erosion series, six paintings
executed between 1933 and 1936. As Hogue recalled: “My handling of the
Dust Bowl group of paintings was absolutely mine. I saw the Dust Bowl
happen, saw it coming. I was a youthful cowboy in Dalhart, Texas. It was
strictly grazing land, the most beautiful you ever saw.” The arid landscape,
with its exaggerated sharp edges, emaciated cow, and sun-bleached colors,
invokes the sheer hopelessness of the time, while the gathering dust at the
horizon line recalls the storms of the “Dirty Thirties.” Born in Missouri but
raised in Denton, Texas, Hogue was as outspoken an advocate for the arts
in Texas as he was critical of the depletion of its land. One of the founders
of the Dallas Art League, he exhibited at the 1936 Texas Centennial.
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 275.
See catalog on Piction-- Catalog from the exhibition 'Alexandre Hogue: Production Drawings,' October 15-November 3, 1944, at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in Dallas, Texas. Includes: essay, image, biographical note
Label text found in Dallas Nine folder in the education files:
DROUGHT STRICKEN AREA, 1934
Alexandre Hogue
(Born Memphis, Missouri, 1898)
oil on canvas
Dallas Art Association Purchase, 1945.6
During the 1930s, Hogue helped to establish the Dallas Artist League and the Lonestar Printmakers while teaching at Hockaday Junior College and executing murals in public places around Texas. Drought stricken Area is Hogue's masterpiece, voicing his anguish at the terrible consequences of generations of bad land management. Under a sickly yellow son laden with dust, and abandoned farm lies drowned under a sea of sand. A vulture, perhaps symbolizing man's callous depredations, waits for a starving cow to die.
Created in 1934
1/8/18
Completed the process of adding to TMS text entries.
Removed rule for constituent.
1/9
Added Object Number to Piction cataloging for audio assets.
1/10
Added Object Number to Piction cataloging for more audio assets.
Added TI note link
Fun fact source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/drought-or-drouth
Exhibition: Lone Star Regionalism :The Dallas Nine and their Circle 1928-1945, February 3, 1985-July 10, 1988
Related Objects
1985.129 Alexandre Hogue, Study for "Drouth Stricken Area"
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place depicted and place of origin: Texas (state/United States): TGN: 7007826
Place of origin: Southwest (general region/United States): TGN: 4010660
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE DO I ADD THIS TO TMS?
From 1945: Dallas Art Association, purchased from the artist. [1]
[1] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
- 15662418: UMO [Caption: A Conversation on Alexandre Hogue]
- 16086093: UMO [Caption: Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Sue Canterbury]
- 27172833: UMO [Caption: Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Gallery Talk Andrea Severins-Goins]
- 28775525: UMO [Caption: Alexandre Hogue Drouth Stricken Area, Clip from the Lone Star Regionalist: The Legacy of Jerry Bywaters]
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1945.6
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object_notes_3_c-0251.xml.nores