User:Capitula/Hodges

A. J. Hodges

A. J. Hodges is a public artwork by American artist Arthur C. Morgan, located on the northwest edge of Hodges Gardens, which is near Many, Louisiana, United States of America. The 1972 bronze bust features A.J. Hodges wearing a jacket, shirt and tie at approximately 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 x 7" on a stone pedestal base approximately 46 x 24 x 24 with an overall diameter of 97". The artist's signature appears on the upper right shoulder of the bust; casting by Modern Art Foundry

Historical information
Bust commemorates Andrew Jackson Hodges, Sr. (1890 - 1966), founder of Hodges gardens and noted civic leader, oil producer, conservationist, and lumberman. Mr. Hodges, known as "A. J.", was a native Louisianian who began working in his father's mercantile business, but turned to oil and gas exploration. He became the principle developer of the Cotton Valley, Sugar Creek, and Silgo fields, instrumental in boosting Louisiana's position among the oil producing states. He was also one of the founders of the Louisiana Forestry Association, a director of the Louisiana bank and Trust Company, and a trustee of Centenary College. He converted what is now Hodges gardens (initially known as Hodges Gardens Experimental Area and Wildlife Preserve) from an abandoned stone quarry.

Artist
The artist Arthur C. Morgan was a graduate of the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York City, he was commissioned at age 16 to create a bust of Dr. Simon Baruch, medical pioneer and advocate of hydrotherapy. Studied under, and was a protege of, Gutzon Borglum, creator of Mount Rushmore. Known for his statues and busts of public figures, including Louisiana Gov. Earl Long, his best-known creation is the heroic figure of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglas White in Statuary Hall of U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC. With his wife, Gladys, he founded the Southwest Institute of Arts and the Department of Fine Arts at Centenary College of Louisiana. Gladys's watercolors were featured in Louisiana Magazine in 1961. She organized the Art Colony of New Iberia in June, 1964. (bio by: John Andrew Prime)