The University of Tulsa is excited to celebrate what would have been the 125th birthday of artist Alexandre Hogue, former head of TU’s Department of Art and namesake of the Alexandre Hogue Gallery located in Phillips Hall. Students enrolled in the curatorial practice and programming course this fall are organizing two exhibitions in his honor. The first, Hogue 125 Original, showcases works by the artist, and the second, Hogue 125 Inspired, is a juried exhibition of themes represented in Hogue’s work.
Hogue 125 Original: Sinister Beauty opens Nov. 3, 2022, and explores the fearful sublime within nature, politics and ourselves. Hogue’s breadth of work faces the tantalization of beauty and the terrors of both our created and physical realities. Attentive to his inner sensibilities and to what he perceives, he captures fundamental tensions between self and others, people and nature, and the spiritual and material. The exhibition’s subtitle, Sinister Beauty, derives from a letter Hogue sent to Matthew Baigell, an art historian at Rutgers University.
Drawing on the artist’s work from Special Collections in TU’s McFarlin Library and the School of Art, Design, and Art History, as well as local collectors, the exhibition features pieces from throughout the artist’s career, with early paintings from the 1920s and ’30s, striking political drawings from the 1940s and abstract compositions from the 1950s until the end of his life.
Hogue 125 Inspired: Oklahoma Landscapes, which opens Jan. 19, 2023, demonstrates the artist’s legacy and continued impact on the art world. TU graduate students have launched a call for entries to the exhibition. Artists 18 and older are eligible to submit up to three works that connect to Oklahoma’s physical and cultural landscapes. Works might engage with aspects of the political, social, environmental or interpersonal influences that shape who we are. The graduate students will select the work from the submissions and will notify artists of their acceptance in December 2022. A speech and special prize will be awarded by Hogue’s daughter Olivia Hogue Mariño, an artist, educator, and scholar in her own right during the birthday celebration on Feb. 22.
All events will be held in the Hogue Gallery, Phillips Hall, on the university campus.
Undergraduate students in art, art history and arts, culture, and entertainment management and graduate students in museum science and management have dedicated their time to organizing, creating, planning and promoting these exhibitions. Led by Assistant Professor Samuel Krall and Kirsten Olds, associate dean of Kendall College of Arts & Sciences, students have been formed into teams that focus on different aspects of the exhibition, such as programming, promotion, registration and interpretation. Their work includes researching the art of Alexandre Hogue, examining archival documents in Special Collections, selecting works for inclusion in the exhibitions, writing didactic labels, crafting promotional statements, determining the gallery layout and creating engaging programming. Drawing on their varied expertise in fine art, graphic design, art history and museum studies, they have come together in class to commemorate this talented artist. The students also are reaching out to individuals who may have known Hogue and welcome photos, anecdotes and reminiscences. They invite the public to join them in celebrating this influential artist.
Born in 1898, Hogue was an American artist active from the 1920s until his death in 1994. While containing a wide breadth of work, he is well known for his Midwestern landscape paintings during the Dust Bowl. The head of the Art Department at TU from 1945 to 1963, he retired from teaching to a farm and studio near Tulsa in 1967. The Alexandre Hogue Gallery was founded in his honor at the university in 1976.
Further event details and updates will be announced on the School of Art, Design and Art History Facebook page.