Study for "Drouth Stricken Area"
- MAKER:
Artist
Alexandre Hogue ( American, 1898 - 1994 )
- DATE:
- 1933
General Description
Alexandre Hogue blamed the ecological problems in the Great Plains on man’s inept and thoughtless over-cultivation of the land, viewing 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.” The devastation of this desertification is evident in his painting Drouth Stricken Area (1934, 1945.6) for which this is a study. In the completed piece, this emaciated cow stands beside a sand-filled watering hole in the lower left of the composition. It and the vulture patiently waiting for the cow's demise, are the only living things in Hogue's arid landscape.
Adapted from
Sue Canterbury, Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Label text, 2014.
Web Resources
- Alexandre Houge, Drouth Survivors
This painting at the Centre Pompidou provides another example of Hogue's critical view of 1930s agriculture in the U.S.