For Love of Nature: Alfred Hockings

1896 - 1957

Hockings painting of a Hobert Cove house

Holbert Cove, Polk County      watercolor
courtesy of Michael Freda, great grandson

Born in Wisconsin in 1896, Alfred grew up surrounded by the wild beauty of the American Midwest and a household steeped in adventure. His father was a prominent dentist known not only for his pioneering work in dental care but also for his marksmanship and competitive shooting. His paternal grandfather was a farmer and taxidermist, while his maternal grandfather served as a Civil War veteran, newspaper editor, and postmaster – sources, Alfred believed, of his appreciation for both the natural world and the written word.

Hockings was captivated by wildlife. He spent his boyhood hunting and fishing across woodlands and lakes of Wisconsin, developing a knowledge of birds and game animals that would later inform his art. He recalled shooting his first ruffed grouse with a .410 shotgun – an event that delighted both him and his father. His childhood was filled with stalking muskrats and prairie dogs to observing wild ducks, curlews, and sage hens in native habitats.

Hockings painting of two birds

Blue Winged Teal in Flight
watercolor

Despite frequent illness, Alfred displayed resilience and a curious spirit. Like his hero Theodore Roosevelt he sought to strengthen his health through immersion in nature. As a teenager, he traveled to North Dakota, homesteading land and breaking 75 acres of sod with a team of oxen. To earn extra income, he also worked as a cowboy, riding herd on cattle. In an autobiographical letter, he said the novel Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rølvaag about Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in Dakota reminded him of his own homesteading on the prairie.

Later Alfred moved to the Pacific Northwest, where he attended high school amid stunning scenery of Puget Sound. There he thrived, fishing for trout and salmon, crabbing, and hunting pheasants. He recounted how his uncle could hit birds in full flight with a .22 rifle – an image that stayed with him for life.

Hockings then returned to Wisconsin, and enrolled in medical school in Chicago, intending to follow in his father's footsteps. But passion for drawing and painting proved stronger. He left medical studies behind to pursue formal art education, enrolling in the Art Institute of Chicago. Over four years, he studied under some of the foremost artists of the time, including J. Wellington Reynolds, John Norton, Charles Hawthorne, George Bellows, and Karl Buehr.

Photo of Hockings and other illustrators

Alfred Hockings at work in Chicago

At the Art Institute in 1919 he met and married fellow artist Catherine Brown, daughter of artist John Sylvan Brown. They had one daughter Jean born in late 1920. With the onset of World War I and a family to support, Alfred made the difficult decision to shift from fine art to commercial illustration. He established a successful career working with advertising agencies on campaigns for Firestone, Ford, and Lincoln, among others.

Hockings working on map

Historical map of Fort Dearborn on Lake Michigan, birthplace of Chicago.

In 1933 he became Art Director at Bielefeld Studios in Chicago and continued to illustrate for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Collier’s. Though commercial work paid bills, Alfred never abandoned his love for fine art. He continued painting in his spare time, exhibiting his work in Chicago, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina. Some of his paintings were selected for international exhibitions, and many were reproduced in Canadian and British publications.

He lived in suburban La Grange and was instrumental along with his father-in-law in founding La Grange Art League. Its first exhibit was March 1934 and Alfred was on the exhibition committee with over 100 local entries for the show (Chicago Tribune March 18, 1934). He continued to pursue love for hunting. In 1941 from Manitoba he wrote home to his wife Catherine “Toots” of a successful trip delivering 101 ducks to Winnipeg.

JS Brown and Alfred Hockings

John Sylvan Brown and Alfred Hockings
painting plein air near Tryon, North Carolina circa 1940

During the Forties, Hockings painted around Tryon and exhibited at Lake Summit Playhouse. Although he never settled in Tryon full-time, he spent extended periods enjoying the southern Appalachians with his father-in-law.

John Sylvan Brown Learn more about Hockings' artist father-in-law

Painting showing view of Sourwood Ridge in Tryon

View from Sourwood Ridge, Tryon      watercolor

Hockings passed away in 1957 in Myrtle Beach at the age of 60. His paintings remain in both private and museum collections across the United States and Canada, capturing a spirit of wildness, curiosity, and quiet reverence for the outdoors.

Cynthia Davis
Shelby, North Carolina
 “Masters in the Mountains:
     Early Work from the Tryon Artist Colony”
       exhibition at the Earl Scruggs Center, January 2025