Carl Thomas Hoppe, a South Texas

South Texas

South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of and including San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande River, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 3.7 million. The southern portion of this region is...

 artist, was born to German immigrants August and Teresa Hoppe on August 22, 1897 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Bexar County, Texas

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,392,931 people, 488,942 households, and 345,681 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,117 people per square mile . There were 521,359 housing units at an average density of 418 per square mile...

.

Hoppe's day job was salesman for Joske's

Joske's

Joske's, founded by German immigrant Julius Joske in 1867, was a department store chain originally based in San Antonio, Texas. In December 1928, Hahn Department Stores acquired the company along with the Titche-Goettinger department store of Dallas, and three years later Hahn became part of Allied...

 Department Store in downtown San Antonio, from which he retired in the 1970s. He was an artist of local notability during his lifetime, from the early 1900s through the 1960s, and appreciation for his style and skills resurged in the late 20th and early 21st Century. He specialized in landscapes, in a somewhat impressionistic style, signed with a characteristic “C. Hoppe”.

He knew some of the leading artists in the state, including Porfirio Salinas

Porfirio Salinas

Porfirio Salinas was an Early Texas landscape painter who is recognized for his depictions of the Texas Hill Country in the springtime. He was one of the first Mexican-American artists to become nationally recognized for his paintings. He was described by Time Magazine as United States President...

, Robert William Wood

Robert William Wood

Robert William Wood was an American landscape painter. He was born in England, emigrated to the United States and rose to prominence in the 1950s with the sales of millions of his color reproductions...

, José Arpa

José Arpa

José Arpa y Perea, 1858-1952, was an artist of Spanish birth who worked in Spain, Mexico, and Texas. Born in Carmona, Spain, he studied under Eduardo Cano de la Peña at the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, where he won the Rome Prize three times, allowing him to study in Rome...

, and he went on field trips with Julian Onderdonk

Julian Onderdonk

Julian Onderdonk was a Texan Impressionist painter, often called "the father of Texas painting."-Biography:...

. Hoppe began painting as a youth and later studied under Arpa, exhibiting numerous paintings in the mid to late 1920s. Some of the exhibits were held at the Witte Museum

Witte Museum

The Witte Museum, established in 1926 under the charter of the San Antonio Museum Association, is located adjacent to Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, Texas, on the banks of the source of the San Antonio River. It is dedicated to the history, science, and culture of the region. Nearby is the San...

 in San Antonio by José Arpa Perea (Museum of Fine Arts of Seville

Museum of Fine Arts of Seville

The Museum of Fine Arts of Seville or Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla is a museum in Seville, Spain, a collection of mainly Spanish visual arts from medieval period to the early 20th century, including a choice selection of works from the so-called Golden Age of Sevillian painting during the 17th...

) and his students.

His works have also been exhibited at the River Art Group, and a 1997 Special Exhibit of his works was exhibited at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum is a history museum on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, U.S.A., a small city south of Amarillo. The museum's contents are owned and controlled by the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, while West Texas A&M University and the Texas A&M...

. Hoppe died January 15, 1981 in San Antonio, at age 83.