Hugh M. Poe
| male | 1902-? |
| Era: 20th Century |
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| Life city: Indianapolis, IN |
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| Work city: Indianapolis, IN |
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| Teachers: William Forsyth, |
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| Styles: Landscapes Portraits |
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- Marion County
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Hugh M. Poe is a well known Indianapolis portrait painter. Born in Dallas, Texas to Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Maclean Poe. At the age of four, Poe and his family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he would later receive his initial art training in the R.L. Mason School of Art. Following that time, he received a scholarship to John Herron Art Institute where he enrolled in 1919 and went on to receive five years of training under William Forsyth. Poe was also a member of Charles W. Hawthorneâs summer class at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
After schooling, the artist shared a studio in downtown Indianapolis at the Circle Building with Clement Trucksess. At age twenty-three, he began work on a commission at the Culver Military Academy. After being discovered for his portrait work at the Hoosier Salon by a General L.R. Gignilliat, the young artist was approved by the board of directors to paint 64 portraits of Culver men who lost their lives in the world war. The life-sized heads were primarily done is pastel and were all framed separately. While he was still working on the portraits, twenty completed ones were displayed at the Hoosier Salon and when finished, all would later become part of the collection in the new Memorial Building at Culver.
Poe exhibited not only at the Hoosier Salon, but also at the East Tennessee Division Fair alongside his studio partner Trucksess, William Forsyth, friend and fellow student R. L. Selfridge, and Ralph Britt. Here the artist showed a diverse body of work in all different mediums including: oil; pastel; charcoal; watercolor; sculpture; and pen & ink. During this time he was elected a charter member of the East Tennessee Fine Arts Society. His many awards included: multiple prizes at the Chicago Hoosier Salon; Art Association Prize for portrait in oil at Herron Art Institute; best work by a man under 25 award given by Culver Military Academy; and the Holcomb Prize for his life-sized portrait of R.L. Selfridge.
IMA Research Library Artist Files; Indianapolis Star
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