alexandre hogue
One of the most searing images of the Depression-era Southwest, Drouth-
American, 1898–1994
Stricken Area is part of Alexandre Hogue’s Erosion series, six paintings
Drouth-Stricken Area
executed between 1933 and 1936. As Hogue recalled: “My handling of the
1934
Dust Bowl group of paintings was absolutely mine. I saw the Dust Bowl
Oil on canvas
happen, saw it coming. I was a youthful cowboy in Dalhart, Texas. It was
30 × 42N in. ( 76.2 × 107.3 cm) Dallas Art Association Purchase, 1945.6
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.
modern
3121-04 DMA handbook Modern-Contemporary [BW 10-11].indd 275
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