Raoul Hague; Sculpted Wood to Resemble Tree Trunks

Raoul Hague, 88, American sculptor known for his abstract expressionistic work in wood. Born Raoul Heukelekian in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey, he immigrated to the United States in 1921 and studied at Iowa State College, the Chicago Art Institute and New York’s Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, where he began to sculpt. First working in stone (he did not switch to wood until 1945), Hague first exhibited in 1933 at the Museum of Modern Art. He became a U.S. citizen in 1930 and sculpted in the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Arts Project during the Depression. After serving in the Army during World War II, and after a study tour of Europe, Hague settled in Woodstock, N.Y. He carved sculptures that resembled the huge stumps and tree trunks he hauled out of the woods. His work gained popularity and value in the 1950s, and he had his first solo show in 1962 at the age of 57, at New York’s Egan Gallery. On Wednesday in Woodstock, of heart failure.