Dad__Curry__Brown_326eIn 1939, he stopped by the Topeka State House to watch the celebrated artist John Steuart Curry work on its murals. Curry hired him, first as an apprentice and later as his assistant. That summer, in addition to cleaning brushes and palettes, Bob finished details on tornadoes, buffalo, and even the central figure of John Brown. Scholastic reports that "there are some flowers and herds on which Bob did a large proportion of the work" ("Awards Winner").
At the time, Curry was one of the most famous artists in the country. He belonged to the Regionalist school now best known for Grant Wood's iconic "American Gothic." Curry was the first artist in residence at an American university (UWM), a distinction that put him on the cover of Life magazine. (Strange but true: he was sponsored not by the art or even the humanities department but by agriculture.) To become his apprentice, therefore, was a huge honor for young Bob and he worked with the artist for the remaining six years of Curry's life, with time out for World War II.
"Curry was the biggest influence in my life," Bob told reporter Joan Altabe in 1991. "I learned on the job. I think starting out in the apprentice system rather than the educational system makes a difference in your outlook. You see art as a calling instead of as a profession" (Altabe).
Of course, the war disrupted a vast number of lives, and Bob's was one of them. As a navy trainee, he attended Dartmouth and Columbia Midshipman's School, graduating to become the skipper of a LCT in the Gilberts and then a LSM engineering officer in the Philippines. During this period he first grew his signature beard so as to distinguish himself from the rest of his teenaged crew.
To give his own summary of the next fourteen years as narrated to Margaret Rigg for motive magazine, "Back to Wisconsin, Curry, track. Wesley (student). Got married [to Lois, my mother] and a Master's degree, freelanced as an artist for a year. Went to Des Moines Art Center as instructor and resident artist, three years. Divorced, and went to Mexico to paint and study. University of Illinois graduate school-teaching and chief illustrator for "Our Wonderful World" encyclopedias for three years. Then, more freelancing art at Urbana, Illinois. Married and widowed. Became art director, University of Wisconsin at Madison for their Editorial and Communications Services, Extension division. Have illustrated four children's books (working on a fifth), illustrated articles and stories in Playboy and other magazines, have been exhibiting prints and paintings for almost twenty-five years now, had over twenty one-man shows" (Hodgell, Robert).
In 1962 he moved to Florida to take up a teaching position at Florida Presbyterian College with the two conditions that he neither shave his beard nor give up his association with Playboy. In 1972, FPC became Eckerd College. Bob married again and continued to teach until 1977 before quitting to resume art full time.
From 1977 to 2000, his rampant creativity led him into all manner of media, resulting in many more art shows and innumerable awards. "His impact on the art community is immeasurable," says Arthur Skinner, professor of visual arts at Eckerd and a former colleague. "He was a true artist if ever I have known one, one for whom art was his life, one who worked tirelessly, virtually every day of his life" (Basse).
Printmaker328While his subject matter was as varied as the medium in which he expressed it, he is best remembered for his religious themes. According to B. J. Stiles, editor of motive, his "woodcuts and linoprints brought new insights and fresh vision to several generations of people of faith, reared in the comforting confines of Sallman's Head of Christ [one of the afore-mentioned "bearded ladies"] and countless bad reproductions of Durer and Rembrandt. Hodgell illuminated truths and insights from both the Old and New Testament that had long been dulled and obscured by well intended but nonetheless trite teachings and insipid preaching. His work was tacked to bulletin boards in dorm rooms and campus religious centers on several continents. His work endures -- and inspires" ("Century Marks").
Altabe, Joan. "Robert Hodgell Didn't Fit Typical Image of Artist." Herald-Tribune 3/7/00 6B.
"Awards Winner Gets Job with John Steuart Curry." Scholastic 14 October 1940, 44.
Basse, Craig. "Artist and teacher Hodgell dies at 77." St. Petersburg Times, 3/5/00 3B.
"Century Marks." Christian Century 22-29 March 2000, 327.
Hodgell, Murlin. Personal Interview. 3 March 2000.
Hodgell, Robert. "Artist: Robert Hodgell." Margaret Rigg, compiler. motive Nov 1959, 15.
