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Herman and Verman are two characters from Hoosier author Booth Tarkington’s trilogy of Penrod stories published between 1914 and 1929.

This candid, sensitive portrait won a certificate of merit at the Indiana artists annual exhibition at the Herron Art Institute in 1924. 

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Hugh M. Poe

Herman and Verman, 1924

oil on canvas

18 x 24 in.

Gift of Mrs. John N. Carey

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Hugh Poe was born in Dallas, Texas and went to Knoxville, Tennessee with his family when he was four years old.  His initial art training was in the R. L. Mason School of Art at Knoxville before earning a degree from the John Herron Art School.  He was a member of Charles Webster Hawthorne’s class in the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  He exhibited in the Hoosier Salon held in the Marshall Field galleries in Chicago before being commissioned to paint from photographs sixty-three portraits of Culver Military Academy students who lost their lives in World War I. 

Information on the artist seems to cease just as his career was poised for an auspicious beginning.

Herman and Verman relates to Hoosier novelist Booth Tarkington.  These two characters appear in Tarkington’s series of Penrod books published between 1914 and 1929, as the young boys who lived in the neighborhood of Penrod and Sam.  This is a sensitive, broadly brushed portrait that is an indication of Poe’s ability to capture the candid expression of male youth.  This portrait won a certificate of merit at the Indiana artists annual exhibition at the Herron Art Institute in 1924. 

Reference

Since very meager printed material exists on Hugh M. Poe, the best source for more information on the artist is the artist’s file at the Indianapolis Museum of Art Stout Library.