The Dust Bowl

 

I saw this painting at the University of Arizona Art Museum two years ago.  I remember studying it carefully trying to figure out what was going on in the painting.  The painting's title is "Avalanch by Wind" and it was painted by Alexandre Hogue (1898-1994).  

Hogue was born in Missouri but raised from a very young age in Texas.  His mother taught him about "Mother Earth" which became a theme in his artwork.  Today we would call him an environmentalist because of his steadfast dedication to preservation of the land.  This painting was part of a series he painted that was called the Erosion Series.  Those paintings all had to do with the dust bowl era, a period during the Great Depression where the land was laid bare from over use and drought which Hogue believed was driven by human actions.

In this painting you see a storm building up that has caused heavy winds that have forced the dirt and sand over the railroad tracks. In the background we see a train coming and a lone man trying desperately to warn the engineer of trouble ahead.

There is a five minute video discussing this painting here.