Hogue's Mystery Muse: The Portraits of Elizabeth Page

During our research on Alexandre Hogue, we discovered several exceptional portraits painted by him throughout the early 1930’s. Hogue had a remarkable talent for portraying people and would spend hours getting to know his subjects personally as he painted. As a result, his portraits have a wonderful sense of character and individuality. Though striking in their compositions and execution, Hogue’s portraits are rare and often overlooked in favor of his Erosion series paintings. With the success and popularity of his first Erosion series painting Drouth Stricken Area in 1934, Hogue focused his attention on painting the Dust Bowl. As a result, his portraits have since been neglected and pushed aside as he became known as the Dust Bowl painter.
 
With the success of our blog posts on Hogue’s Erosion series, we were asked to investigate other aspects of Hogue’s career. Our attention was drawn to these remarkable portraits and the lack of information available on them. For this blog post, we have focused our attention on three portraits of Elizabeth Page.
 
A frequent subject in Hogue’s art during the early 1930’s was model and artist Elizabeth Page. Before moving to New York City to study portraiture and drawing in 1931, Elizabeth Page spent several months studying with Hogue. Hogue completed three portraits of Page during his career. The first of these was Elizabeth 1930, followed by The Sophisticate 1930, and Turquoise 1931. 
 
Elizabeth was completed by Hogue in 1930 and was his first portrait of Page (Figure 1). The painting was exhibited and won first honors in the Third Annual Allied Arts Exhibition of Dallas County in 1930. Elizabeth is currently in The Platt Family Collection.

Figure 1. Alexandre Hogue, Elizabeth, 1930, The Platt Family Collection.

​In Alexandre Hogue, An American Visionary, Susie Kalil claims Elizabeth was completed by Hogue in 1929. However, Hogue wrote 1930 as the date of completion in his notes on two separate occasions (Figure 2 and 3).

Figure 2. Alexandre Hogue, description of paintings, 1979.
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1482.

Figure 3. Alexandre Hogue, notes on portraiture, 1982.
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1482.

​Hogue believed Elizabeth was the only portrait of Page remaining. Both The Sophisticate and Turquoise disappeared in the mid 20th century and Hogue assumed they were lost, stolen, or destroyed.
 
Hogue completed The Sophisticate in 1930 as his second portrait of Page (Figure 4). The Sophisticate was exhibited at the Fourth Annual Allied Arts Exhibition of Dallas County in 1931. The painting won the Kiest Purchase Prize at the exhibition and was the first work by Hogue to be added to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts’ permanent collection. 

Figure 4. Alexandre Hogue, The Sophisticate, 1930, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts Permanent Collection until January 1942.

In January 1942, The Sophisticate was reported stolen while on loan at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas. An article in the Dallas Times Herald announced the theft, describing the painting as “one of the most notable works in the collection” of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (Figure 5).

Figure 5. “Borrowed Oil Painting Stolen From Galleries Of Downtown Theatre,” Dallas Times Herald, January 14, 1942.

Turquoise was completed by Hogue in 1931 as his last portrait of Elizabeth Page. Although Hogue believed this painting to have been lost, Turquoise has been recently found in a private collection in excellent condition (Figure 6). 

Figure 6. Alexandre Hogue, Turquoise, 1931, Private Collection.

​The 1942 Dallas Times Herald article on The Sophisticate explained Elizabeth Page had in her collection another portrait of herself painted by Hogue (Figure 5). This portrait in her collection was Turquoise. Hogue gave this painting to Elizabeth Page after completion. As Hogue lost contact with Page, Turquoise was lost to Hogue. In his notes on his portraits from 1982, he explained Page married three times and he did not know her latest name in order to contact her (Figure 7). 

Figure 7. Alexandre Hogue, notes on portraiture, 1982.
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1482.

As the owner of Turquoise, it is a possibility Elizabeth Page was behind the theft of The Sophisticate. In a letter to Hogue from an attorney in 1942, Hogue explained in the margins of the letter he was initially accused by the director of the Majestic Theatre of stealing The Sophisticate in order for him to replace his portrait with another one of his works (Figure 8). Houge denied this accusation, claiming this painting was one of his best works. Hogue explained he hired a detective and was certain the painting was stolen by a good friend of Elizabeth Page, “a notorious kleptomaniac.” As a result, Hogue believed The Sophisticate to have been destroyed either by Page’s friend so she would not be caught with the painting or possibly by Page out of disapproval of the work. 

Figure 8. Notes on letter to Alexandre Hogue from Thompson, Knight, Harris, Wright & Weisberg. July 3, 1942.
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1482.

​A copy of Hogue’s notes on his portraits in 1982 backs up his belief the painting was stolen and destroyed (Figure 9). Forty years later, he again explains he was “sure it was destroyed” after the friend of Elizabeth Page stole the portrait.

Figure 9. Alexandre Hogue, notes on portraiture, 1982.
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1482.

If the detective was correct in the accusation that a friend of Elizabeth Page stole the painting, it is possible The Sophisticate was stolen for Page to add to her personal collection. Page could have admired the work to the point of stealing it out of the belief that she was the rightful owner. With the recent discovery of Turquoise in excellent condition, there is hope The Sophisticate might still be around in a private collection as well, waiting to be rediscovered.

Russell Tether, President
Katherine Hillman, Associate
 
Russell Tether Fine Arts Associates, LLC​