Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper April 30, 2015 Bunker Hill Museum of Boston 1 2 Introduction A pioneer in picturing the 20th- Hopper has been celebrated for century American scene, Edward his highly identifiable mature style, in Hopper (1882-1967) was a realist which urban settings, New England whose portrayal of his native landscapes, and interiors are all country was uncompromising, yet pervaded by a sense of silence and filled with deep emotional content. estrangement. His chosen locations are often vacant of human activity, and His choices of subject matter they frequently imply the transitory seemed to have been somewhat nature of contemporary life. At unpredictable, since they were part deserted gas stations, railroad tracks, of his constant battle with the and bridges, the idea of travel is chronic boredom that often stifled fraught with loneliness and mystery. his urge to paint. This is what kept Hopper on the move—his search for Other scenes are inhabited only by inspiration, least painfully found in a single pensive figure or by a pair of the stimulation of new surroundings. figures who seem not to communicate 3 with one another. These people are rarely Light also plays an essential role: when illuminated by electric lamps, spotlights, represented in their own homes; instead, Hopper paints a house, a balcony, or and neon signs. In every picture we know they pass time in the temporary shelter of an interior, he leaves no doubt as to the precisely what time of day or night it is, movie theaters, hotel rooms, or restaurants. time of day. We see morning sunlight, and at the same time, we sense that time is standing still and that nothing will change. Hopper depicted his favored subjects: We know that for the person standing at cityscapes, landscapes, and room that window or seated at that table, this is interiors solemnly, in carefully composed the one, inescapable reality representing compositions that seem timeless the universe and a tiny slice of it. and frozen but are animated by the effects of natural and man-made light. Hopper gives us clues as to the nature of this existence—a thousand details Hopper’s subject matter can be divided presented with the utmost clarity. And yet into three main categories: the city, the we sense that, ultimately, we can know small town, and the country. His city absolutely nothing about it. The only thing scenes were concerned not with the busy we can be certain of is our own ignorance. life of streets and crowds, but with the city itself as a physical organism, a huge complex of steel, stone, concrete, and glass. When one or two women do appear, they seem to embody the loneliness of so many city dwellers. Often his city interiors at night are seen through windows, from noontime glare, late afternoon shadows, the standpoint of an outside spectator. or approaching dusk slanting through a curtain; a tiny corner of night in the big city, 4 5 6 Early Work Edward Hopper was born in 1882, in including Francisco Goya, Caravaggio, murals. Similarly, a number of his works Nyack, New York, into a middle class El Greco, and Diego Velazquez. The were distributed through various shows family. From 1900 to 1906 he studied at influence of Impressionists, such as Paul and exhibits in New York, but very little, the New York School of Art, and while in Cezanne, Claude Monet, and Edouard if any attention, was given to his pieces. school, shifted from illustration to works of Manet, is directly reflected in his own art. fine art. Upon completing his schooling, he In 1920, at the age of thirty-seven, he worked as an illustrator for a short period In 1908, Hopper began living in a received his first one-person exhibition. of time; once this career path ended, he Greenwich Village neighborhood where Sixteen pieces of his work were shown made three international trips to Europe, he would continue to maintain a studio at the Whitney Club, and although none which had a great influence on the future throughout his career, and he adopted a of the pieces were sold at this exhibit, of his work, and the type of art he would lifelong pattern of spending the summers in it pointed his career in a new direction, engage in during the course of his career. New England. During the 1910s, however, got his artwork out to the general public, Hopper struggled quite a bit to gain any and he became a more notable name in Hopper’s reaction to Impressionism is recognition for the works he had created. the type of work and the art forms for directly reflected in his own art. He forgot Oil painting was a focal point of the work the future works he would create, which the dark, Old Master-like interiors of his he had done, but a majority of the sales he most wanted to focus his career on. New York student days, when he was he made during this period was for pieces influenced mainly by great European artists he had created doing etching work and 7 A few years later, Edward Hopper found which this artwork captured; the painting’s his career had taken a turn for the better, and starkness embodied the style that Edward he was doing well in sales, and financially with Hopper would use for the future works he the works he had created. He was invited to would produce over the course of his career. do a second one-person exhibit, to feature new works, and to create a buzz about the In 1923, Edward Hopper married a work he had created in recent years. The fellow student, Josephine Nivision, who Frank KM Rehn Gallery in New York City, also attended the New York Academy was where this second exhibit took place, where he got his education. Not only did and it received far more attention and a much she pose for nearly half of the female figure larger crowd, due to the exhibit’s location, pieces which he created during his career, and also because more people became aware she also encouraged and pushed him to of the works Edward Hopper had created. engage in different art forms. She advised him to work with water colors, and she House by the Railroad was a famous painting kept records of all the pieces he designed, created by the artist, and it became the first oil the exhibits he was to be a part of, and all painting to ever be acquired by the Museum of the sales of the pieces which were made. of Modern Art, which had only recently been opened for general viewing. Strongly defined lighting, clearly defined lines, and cropped viewpoints were some of the features 8 9 10 Later Years In 1933, Edward Hopper received further praise Hopper created during this period, many of the scenes, for the works he had done, and for a piece that was the common locations, and nearby attractions which on exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. His highly they visited were often portrayed in his oil paintings. identifiable style and mature painting techniques were trademarks he had become known for during this period. He also started to travel further out, and visited regions The gorgeous landscapes, the quiet and empty rooms from Vermont to South Carolina, in order to add new he designed, and the transitory effect, which many of his points of interest to his collection, and to broaden the works posed, created a sense of contemporary life and works and the locations which he would include in many a new style. Critics in the art world began to recognize of the images that he created for the rest of his life. and praise Hopper’s work for its distinctive techniques. The 1940s was a period in which Hopper Between the 1930s and 1950s, Edward Hopper and his found the most commercial success, and as a wife spent quite a bit of time, and most of their summers, result, many of his woks were displayed in various visiting Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In numerous works that exhibits at the Whitney Museum in New York City. 11 Hopper moved from a relatively objective, and his ability to visualize an internal of run-down sections. But there was no almost impersonal way of viewing the world, reality received its ultimate expression. overt satire; rather, a deep emotional to a very emotional one. Hopper’s paintings attachment to his native environment in all showed still, anonymous figures and stern Hopper’s portrayal of the American its ugliness, banality, and beauty. It was the geometric forms within snapshot-like small town showed a full awareness of what combination of love and revealing truth compositions that created that gave his portrait of an inescapable sense of contemporary America loneliness. The isolation of its depth and intensity. his subjects was heightened by Hopper’s characteristic In his landscapes, use of light to insulate Hopper broke with the individuals and objects in academic idyllicism that space, whether in the harsh focused on unspoiled morning light (Early Sunday nature and ignored the Morning, 1930) or the eerie works of man. Those light of an all-night coffee prominent features of the stand (Nighthawks, 1942). American landscape, the railroad and the automobile In his later paintings, highway, were essential Hopper sought to express elements in his works. He the experience of seeing liked the relation between and perceiving the world by treating light to others might seem its ugly aspects: the the forms of nature and of man-made in such a way that it almost became a stark New England houses and churches, things—the straight lines of railway tracks, material object.

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