Hugh Campbell
(American, 1905 - 1995)
According to information supplied by a friend of the artist,¹ Hugh H. Campbell was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, and at some unknown point in time moved to Philadelphia where he worked as an accountant. Influenced by the teachings of an Indian swami, he converted to Hinduism, became a vegetarian, and renounced a conventional lifestyle. Campbell moved to Mount Holly in Burlington County and became a hermit, living in an unheated shack in the forest by the Rancocas Creek. He occupied his time by writing poetry and painting Impressionist landscapes of the local scenery, which he sold on the town square for ten to twenty-five dollars each. Apparently Campbell never had any formal art training and was completely self-taught. The Mount Holly Library and Lyceum owns a large number of his paintings and self-published books of poetry. Notes 1. Malcolm Wells of Brewster, Mass., kindly supplied this biographical information.