Edward Hopper

Nighthawks. 1942. Art Institute of Chicago.

Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American painter and printmaker best remembered for his eerily realistic depictions of solitude in contemporary American life. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching.

Life

Born in Nyack, New York to a prosperous dry-goods merchant, Hopper studied commercial art and painting in New York City. One of his teachers, artist Robert Henri, encouraged his students to use their art to "make a stir in the world". Henri, an influence on Hopper, motivated students to render realistic depictions of urban life. Henri's students, many of whom developed into important artists, became known as the Ashcan School of American art.

Upon completing his formal education, Hopper made three trips to Europe to study the emerging art scene there, but unlike many of his contemporaries who imitated the abstract cubist experiments, the idealism of the realist painters resonated with Hopper. His early projects reflect the realist influence. Eschewing the usual New England subjects of seascapes or boats, Hopper was attracted to Victorian architecture, although it was no longer in fashion. According to Boston Museum of Fine Arts curator Carol Troyen, "He really liked the way these houses with their turrets and towers and porches and mansard roofs and ornament cast wonderful shadows. He always said that his favorite thing was painting sunlight on the side of a house." While he worked for several years as a commercial artist, Hopper continued painting.

According to Troyen, Hopper's "breakthrough work" was The Mansard Roof, painted in 1923 during Hopper's first summer in Gloucester, MA. "For the 10 years previous, he hadn't sold a single painting," according to Troyen. His former art school classmate and later wife, Josephine Nivison Hopper, suggested he enter it in the Brooklyn Museum annual watercolor show, along with some other paintings. The Mansard Roof was purchased by the museum for its permanent collection, for the sum of $100.

In 1925 he produced House by the Railroad, a classic work that marks his artistic maturity. The piece is the first of a series of stark urban and rural scenes that uses sharp lines and large shapes, played upon by unusual lighting to capture the lonely mood of his subjects. He derived his subject matter from the common features of American life — gas stations, motels, the railroad, or an empty street.

Hopper continued to paint in his old age, dividing his time between New York City and Truro, Massachusetts. He died in 1967, in his studio near Washington Square, in New York City. His wife, painter Josephine Nivison, who died 10 months later, bequeathed his work to the Whitney Museum of American Art. Other significant paintings by Hopper are at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Des Moines Art Center, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Works

Themes

The best known of Hopper's paintings, Nighthawks (1942), shows customers sitting at the counter of an all-night diner. The diner's harsh electric light sets it apart from the gentle night outside. The diners, seated at stools around the counter, appear isolated.

Hopper's rural New England scenes, such as Gas (1940), are no less meaningful. In terms of subject matter, he can be compared to his contemporary, Norman Rockwell, but while Rockwell exulted in the rich imagery of small-town America, Hopper depicts it in the same sense of forlorn solitude that permeates his portrayal of city life. Here too, Hopper's work exploits vast empty spaces, represented by a lonely gas station astride an empty country road and the sharp contrast between the natural light of the sky, moderated by the lush forest, and glaring artificial light coming from inside the gas station.

Selected works

Chief works of Edward Hopper (oil on canvas unless otherwise noted):

title	date	collection	themes	photos
Painter and Model	1902-1904	Whitney Museum of American Art	painter, woman, nude, canvas
Bridge in Paris	1906	Whitney Museum of American Art	Paris, bridge
Le Pont des Arts	1907	Whitney Museum of American Art	Seine, bridge, Louvre	[1]
Après-midi de juin	1907	Whitney Museum of American Art	Louvre, Seine, bridge
Les lavoirs à Pont Royal	1907	Whitney Museum of American Art	Seine, wash-house, bridge
Louvre and Boat Landing	1907	Whitney Museum of American Art	Louvre, Seine, pier
The El Station	1908	Whitney Museum of American Art	station, tracks	[2]
Summer Interior	1909	Whitney Museum of American Art	woman, room, bed, nude	[3]
The Louvre in a Thunderstorm	1909	Whitney Museum of American Art	Louvre, Seine, bridge, boats
Le Pont Royal	1909	Whitney Museum of American Art	Louvre, Seine, bridge
Le Quai des Grands Augustins	1909	Whitney Museum of American Art	bridge, street, building
Le pavillon de Flore	1909	Whitney Museum of American Art	Louvre, Seine
The Wine Shop	1909	Whitney Museum of American Art	bistro, bridge, couple
American Village	1912	Whitney Museum of American Art	street, house, cars
Squam Light	1912		lighthouse, houses, boats
Queensborough Bridge	1913	Whitney Museum of American Art	New York, bridge	[4]
Soir bleu	1914	Whitney Museum of American Art	clown, couple, woman, cigarettes
Road in Maine	1914	Whitney Museum of American Art	Maine, nature, road	[5]
Blackhead, Monhegan	1916-1919	Whitney Museum of American Art	Maine, landscape, sea	[6]
Stairways	1919	Whitney Museum of American Art	stairs, door, woods
Night Shadows (etching)	1921	Museum of Modern Art	man, street, night, building	[7]
The New York Restaurant	c. 1922	Muskegon Art Museum Michigan	restaurant, couple, woman	[8]
Railroad Crossing	1922-1923	Whitney Museum of American Art	train tracks, road, house, woods
The Mansard Roof (watercolor)	1923	Brooklyn Museum	house, trees	[9]
House by the Railroad	1925	Museum of Modern Art	train tracks, house	[10]
Self-Portrait	1925-1930	Whitney Museum of American Art	self-portrait	[11]
Sunday	1926	Phillips Collection Washingon, D.C.	man, street, buildings	[12]
Drug Store	1927	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	pharmacy, night, street	[13]
Lighthouse Hill	1927	Dallas Museum of Art	lighthouse, house, hill	[14]
Coast Guard Station	1927	Montclair Art Museum	house
Automat	1927	Des Moines Art Center	woman, café, window, night, fruit, radiator	[15]
The City	1927	University of Arizona Museum of Art	city, streets, buildings	[16]
Night Windows	1928	Museum of Modern Art	night, window, woman, building	[17]
Manhattan Bridge Loop	1928	Addison Gallery of American Art	New York, tracks, lamp-post
Railroad Sunset	1929	Whitney Museum of American Art	train tracks, landscape, twilight	[18]
The Lighthouse at Two Lights	1929	Metropolitan Museum of Art	lighthouse, house	[19]
Chop Suey	1929	Barney A. Ebsworth Collection	café, women, couple, windows, sign	[20]
Early Sunday Morning	1930	Whitney Museum of American Art	street, buildings, street furniture	[21]
Tables for Ladies	1930	Metropolitan Museum of Art	restaurant, women, couple, fruits
Corn Hill (Truro, Cape Cod)	1930	McNay Art Institute, San Antonio	houses, hills	[22]
Cobb's Barns, South Truro	1930-1933	Whitney Museum of American Art	barn, landscape, hills
New York, New Haven and Hartford	1931	Indianapolis Museum of Art	train tracks, houses, trees
Hotel Room	1931	Fondation Thyssen-Bornemisza	hotel, room, bed, woman, reading	[23]
Dauphinée House	1932	ACA Galleries	train tracks, house
Room in New York	1932	Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden	hotel, couple, reading	[24]
House at Dusk	1935	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts	building, woman, trees, stairs, sea	[25]
The Long Leg	1935	The Huntington Library Collection	sailboat, sea, dunes, lighthouse	[26]
Macomb's Dam Bridge	1935	Brooklyn Museum	bridge, river, city, buildings
The Circle Theater	1936	Private collection	theatre, street, building, street furniture	[27]
Cape Cod Afternoon	1936	Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute	Cape Cod, houses	[28]
Compartiment C, Car 193	1938	IBM Corporation Collection	train, woman, reading, bridge	[29]
New York Movie	1939	Museum of Modern Art	New York, cinema, woman, staircase	[30]
Cape Cod Evening	1939	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.	Cape Cod, couple, dog, house, woods	[31]
Ground Swell	1939	Corcoran Gallery of Art	boat, sea, swell, woman, men	[32]
Gas	1940	Museum of Modern Art	gas station, man, woods, road	[33]
Office at Night	1940	Walker Art Center (Minneapolis)	desk, woman, man, window	[34]
Nighthawks	1942	Art Institute of Chicago	bar, woman, men, night, street	[35]
Dawn in Pennsylvania		Terra Museum of American Art	train tracks, train, buildings
Hotel Lobby	1943	Indianapolis Museum of Art	hotel, couple, woman, reading	[36]
Summer	1943	Delaware Art Museum	woman, building, windows
Solitude	1944	Private collection	house, woods, road
Morning in a City	1944	Williams College Museum of Art	woman, nude, room, bed, window, city
Rooms for Tourists	1945	Yale University Art Gallery	house, night	[37]
August in the City	1945	Norton Gallery of Art West Palm Beach	house, woods	[38]
Summer Evening	1947	Private collection	couple, night, house	[39]
Pennsylvania Coal Town	1947	Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown OH	house, stairs, man	[40]
Seven AM	1948	Whitney Museum of American Art	morning, woods, house
Noon	1949	Dayton Art Institute	house, woman
Conference at Night	1949	Wichita Art Museum	woman, men, window, night
Cape Cod Morning	1950	National Museum of American Art	Cape Cod, woman, house, woods	[41]
Rooms by the Sea	1951	Yale University Art Gallery	rooms, sea, door	[42]
Morning Sun	1952	Columbus Museum of Art	woman, room, bed, window, city	[43]
Hotel by a Railroad	1952	Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden	room, couple, window, city, reading	[44]
Sea Watchers	1952	Private collection	couple, sea, house, wind
Office in a Small City	1953	Metropolitan Museum of Art	desk, man, window, buildings	[45]
South Carolina Morning	1955	Whitney Museum of American Art	woman, house
Hotel Window	1956	The Forbes Magazine Collection	hotel, window, woman, city
Four Lane Road	1956	Private collection	couple, gas station, road, woods, chair	[46]
Western Motel	1957	Yale University Art Gallery	hotel, car, landscape, woman
Sunlight in a Cafeteria	1958	Yale University Art Gallery	café, woman, man, window, street	[47]
Excursion into Philosophy	1959	Private collection	couple, room window, book	[48]
Second Story Sunlight	1960	Whitney Museum of American Art	couple, reading, house, woods	[49]
People in the Sun	1960	National Museum of American Art Washington, D.C.	landscape, reading, men, women, road, sun	[50]
A Woman in the Sun	1961	Whitney Museum of American Art	woman, nude, window, bed, landscape	[51]
New York Office	1962	Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts	New York, desk, woman, window	[52]
Intermission	1963	Private collection	woman, armchair
Sun in a Empty Room	1963	Private collection	room, window, woods	[53]
Chair Car	1965	Private collection	woman, reading	[54]
Two Comedians	1965	Private collection	couple, costumes, theatre	[55]

Exhibitions

In 1980 the groundbreaking show, "Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist," opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art and visited London, Dusseldorf, and Amsterdam, as well as San Francisco and Chicago. For the first time ever, this show presented Hopper's oil paintings together with drawings on paper, which were his studies for those works. This was the beginning of Hopper's popularity in Europe and his large world-wide reputation.

In 2004, a large selection of Hopper's paintings toured through Europe, visiting Cologne, Germany and Tate Modern in London. The Tate exhibition became the second most popular in the gallery's history, with 420,000 visitors in the three months it was open.

In 2007, an exhibition focusing on the period of Hopper’s greatest achievements—from about 1925 to mid-century— was under way at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The exhibit comprises fifty oil paintings, thirty watercolors, and twelve prints, including the favorites Nighthawks, Chop Suey, and Lighthouse and Buildings, Portland Head, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Art Institute of Chicago.

Influence

Hopper's influence on the art world and pop culture is undeniable. Homages to Nighthawks featuring cartoon characters or famous pop culture icons such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe are often found in poster stores and gift shops. Although this example does not, Hopper often used his wife as the model for female figures. The cable television channel Turner Classic Movies sometimes runs a series of animated clips based on Hopper paintings before they air their films.

Hopper's cinematic wide compositions and dramatic use of lights and darks has also made him a favorite among filmmakers. For example, House by the Railroad is said to have heavily influenced the iconic house in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. The same painting has also been cited as being an influence on the home in the Terrence Malick film Days of Heaven.

Noted surrealist horror film director Dario Argento went so far as to recreate the diner and the patrons in Nighthawks as part of a set for his 1976 film Deep Red (aka Profondo Rosso).

To establish the lighting of scenes in the 2002 film Road to Perdition, director Sam Mendes drew from the paintings of Hopper as a source of inspiration, particularly New York Movie.

In 2004 British guitarist John Squire (formerly of The Stone Roses fame) released a concept album based on Hopper's work entitled Marshall's House. Each song on the album inspired by, and sharing its title with, a painting by Hopper.

Polish composer Paweł Szymański's Compartment 2, Car 7 for violin, viola, cello and vibraphone (2003) was inspired by Hopper's Compartment C, Car 293. [56]

German film director Wim Wenders's 1997 film The End of Violence incorporates a tableau vivant of Nighthawks, recreated by actors.

Each of the 12 chapters in New Zealander Chris Bell (author)'s 2004 novel Liquidambar (UKA Press/PABD) interprets one of Hopper's paintings to create a surreal detective story.

Hopper's influence even reached the Japanese animation world in the dark cyberpunk thriller Texhnolyze. Hopper's artwork was used as the basis for the surface world in Texhnolyze.

See also

• Logan Medal of the arts

Bibliography

• Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995; Rizzoli Books, 2007.)
• Levin, Gail. Hopper's Places (New York: Knopf, 1985; 2nd expanded edition, University of California Press, 1998.)
• Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonne (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1995).
• Cook, Greg, "Visions of Isolation: Edward Hopper at the MFA", Boston Phoenix, May 4, 2007, p.22, Arts and Entertainment.
• Healy, Pat, "Look at all the lonely people: MFA's 'Hopper' celebrates solitude", Metro newspaper, Tuesday, May 8, 2007, p.18.

External links

• Edward Hopper at the National Gallery of Art
• "Alone, Together: examining the work of Edward Hopper" ArtsEditor.com article
• Art and Bio of Hopper at the WebMuseum
• An Edward Hopper Scrapbook, compiled by the staff of the *Smithsonian American Art Museumbased on research by Gail Levin
• Hopper exhibition at Tate 2004
• Edward Hopper
• "Staying Up Much Too Late: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and the Dark Side of the American Psyche" by Gordon Theisen
• Gallery of Edward Hopper's Paintings