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| Howdy Neighbour (1936) |
Born on 22 February 1898 in Memphis, Missouri, moved with parents to Texas at a young age. A He was, by style, a realist and regionalist painter associated with the "Dallas Nine"; he also taught art in the region. The majority of his works focus on Southwestern and Midwestern landscapes during the time of the Dust Bowl.
From the Wikipedia link above:
Hogue’s mother had a huge influence on his work; she taught him about “Mother Earth,” which became a key concept to most of his paintings, specifically Mother Earth Laid Bare in 1938. Hogue connected the human body to the natural world, recalling his mother’s words that “...conjured up visions of a great female figure under the ground everywhere- so I would tread easy on the ground." In addition, the effects that the Dust Bowl had on the land that Hogue had grown to love had a profound effect on his works
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| Erosion #2 - Mother Earth Laid Bare (1935 /1938) |
The Modern West: American Landscapes, 1890-1950
By Emily Ballew Neff
Interesting video - just 2 mins and 44 secs.
A few of his paintings (more can be seen via Google Image).
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| Drought Stricken Area (1934) |
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| Red Earth Canyon |
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| The Crucified Land |
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| Oil in the Sandhills |
From NCBI, here.
Hogue described his work as “psycho-reality,” involving “mind reactions to real situations, not dreams or subconscious.” He converted his thoughts into abstract visual terms, which were stronger than nature itself. In his work Drouth Stricken Area, “The windmill and the drink tub are taken from life,” he wrote. “I worked on that windmill. In fact I was knocked off it by lightning. It was the windmill that was on my sister and brother-in-law’s place―the Bishop Ranch near Dalhart, Texas. The house was strictly my own. I just depicted it so it would be typical of the time…. The placing of a top of a shed coming in front of the tank is strictly a matter of composition. The whole thing is just visually built.”
“Some may feel that in these paintings… I may have chosen an unpleasant subject, but after all the drouth is most unpleasant. To record its beautiful moments without its tragedy would be false indeed. At one and the same time the drouth is beautiful in its effects and terrifying in its results. The former shows peace on the surface but the latter reveals tragedy underneath. Tragedy as I have used it is simply visual psychology, which is beautiful in a terrifying way.”
“I don’t like to be called a ‘regionalist’ or ‘American scene painter,’ or, as Life magazine called me, ‘painter of the Dust Bowl,” proclaimed Hogue even as he urged farmers to cooperate with federal soil conservation efforts. “My paintings are as much a statement of what may happen as what has happened―a warning of impending danger in terms of present conditions...."
ASTROLOGY
No time of birth known, chart set for 12 noon.
Most surprising factor about Hogue's natal chart: no planet in an Earth sign. Perhaps he had an Earth sign rising - if we only knew his time of birth!
Sun conjunct Venus (planet of the arts) in Pisces speaks of highly sensitive emotion in his artwork. Natal Moon's position isn't known exactly, but would be either in late Pisces or early Aries - and quite possibly in trine to Chiron (known as the Wounded Healer) in Scorpio. That would fit very well!
