Donald R. Haug

Donald R. Haug was a master of realism that fools the eye, known as “trompe l’oeil.”  He worked within a tradition established in America by Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825), William M. Harnett (1851-1892) and John F. Peto (1854-1907), who painted objects so convincingly that people reach out to touch them.  Sometimes Haug also utilized elements of 20^th-century abstraction reminiscent of the work of Walter Murch (1907-1967) in which he would pare down his images to their essentials and place them in a surreal, atmospheric space.  Haug’s oil paintings and charcoal drawings typically accentuate the highlights, shadows and textures of his subjects and the surfaces upon which they are presented.

Haug attended the Albright Art School in 1954 and received both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Art Education from Buffalo State College in 1954 and 1960, respectively.  His work has been exhibited extensively throughout Western New York.