Hodgell, Robert Overman (American, 1920-2000). DANIEL AND THE LIONS. Linocut, not dated. Edition size not known. Titled and signed in pencil. 20 x 23 inches (image), 24 x 28 inches, sheet. Printed on thin wove paper. Faint toning, else in very good condition. Robert Overman Hodgell was born in Makato, Kansas in 1922. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees during the early 1940s from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. There, he studied printmaking under Alfred Sessler. In 1946, Hodgell became the assistant to and was greatly influenced by the American Regionalist, John Stuart Curry, assisting him on his last mural, "Youth Helps Build a Better World". From 1957 to 1959, he worked in the University of Wisconsin - Madison Extension Division. From 1961 to 1978, he taught at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also taught art at the Ringling School of Art and New College and the University of South Florida, Sarasota. He died in Bradenton, FL. in 2000. Hodgell's works can be seen in many permanent collections including the Library of Congress, Miller Art Museum, Eckert College, and the Ringling Museum of Art. Robert O. Hodgell (1922-2000) American Artist Robert O. Hodgell was your typical "preacher's kid." The son of a Methodist minister, he heard enough sermons growing up in Kansas to view the institutional church as an adult with a jaundiced eye. Yet, the foundational stories of his childhood faith intrigued and challenged him throughout his sixty-year career as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and illustrator, resulting in a body of work unique in American sacred art-by turns, alienating, anguished, poignant, and prophetic in a compellingly modern way. The teen-aged Hodgell was more keen on track and field than art-making, but that all changed in 1939, when he had a chance to watch the renowned Regionalist Artist, John Steuart Curry, working on murals at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. Curry took him on as an apprentice-assistant, and Hodgell progressed from cleaning brushes to putting some of the finishing touches on the huge historical landscapes. Hodgell worked with Curry the last six years of the artist's life and spoke of him as "the biggest influence in my life." After serving in the Pacific in World War II, Hodgell finished his art studies at the University of Wisconsin, painted murals for the 1948 Wisconsin Centennial Exhibition, took a va
