MUSEUMS TODAY

Edward Hopper
Master of "He offers a brand of realism not bound by reality. His
work appears at once traditional and modern; his women
are erotic and puritanical; and the places he depicts are
familiar and foreign, comfortable and disquieting."

T
HE ICONIC AMERICAN artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967) so permitted the artistic freedom he craved. Hopper's etchings signal
honed his compositions by eliminating unnecessary details to themes the artist would explore throughout his career: isolated figures,
reveal the essence of a scene. Erom bis distillations emerge empt>' streets, strong contrasts between light and shadow, and the play of
poignant and enigmatic pictures filled with audible silences sunlight on architecture.
and pregnant pauses—Hopper's art speaks volumes without uttering a Although Hopper's etchings primarily are drawn ftom urban subjects,
word. Always a realist. Hopper never was a documentarian. In his he chose watercolor to depict his early small-town or rural images. En-
hands, reality was transfonned, seeming at once real and unreal, familiar
couraged by his fellow art student and future wife Josephine (Jo) Nivison.
and strange, ordinary and extraordinary'. As he once declared, "My aim Hopper began using watercolor in earnest when summering in Glouces-
in painting has always been the most exact transcription possible of myter, Mass.. in the early 1920s. The portability of the medium allowed him
most intimate impressions of nature." to paint outdoors, where he favored local architecture to the picturesque
coastal scenes that had made the region a popular artists' colony. His de-
Hopper's earliest artistic success came by way of his watercolors and
etchings, rather than the oil paintings for which he now is best known.pictions of New England garnered Hopper important recognition: in
Lacking buyers for his canvases. Hopper reluctantly worked as a com- 1923. his first sale to a public institution (the Brooklyn Museum's pur-
mercial illustrator. In 1915. he discovered etching, a medium that madechase of "The Mansard Roof) and, in 1924, a solo exhibition at Erank
Rehn's Fifth Avenue gallery that sold out quickly. Critics admired his deft
economic sense (multiple prints could be sold of a single image) and al-
handling of the medium, straightforward
style, and ability to transform vemacular ar-
chitecture into something beautiful.
Throughout his career. New England—
first Gloucester, later Maine, andfinallyCape
Cod —was the source for much of Hopper's
subject matter. These coastal communities
were popular destinations for artists, but the
independent-minded Hopper remained dis-
tant from his colleagues, diyly noting. "[When]
everyone else would be painting ships and
the waterftxint, Fd just go around loc^ng at
houses," He had a penchant for architectural
styles of past centuries, especially the Victori-
iui, with iLs heavy ornamentation and mansard
rtxjfs. He rendered these houses with dramat-
ic light and often in isolation. Along the coast
of Maine, where Hopper visited in the late
192{)s. he painted lighthouses, solitary bea-
cons amid the landscape, Eull of intrigue and
mystery. Hopper's lighthouses surpass their
utilitarianism and assume a commanding
presence—no longer mere incidental struc-
tures like those in the seascapes of other
artists.
Beginning in 1930. Hopper and Jo (who
wed in 1924) spent summers on Cape Cod.
where the couple eventually built a house and
studio in the town of Truro, There. Hopper's
'Night Shadows," etching on off-wbite paper, plate (1921). style became more geometric, perhaps in-

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 "Hotel Room," oil on canvas (1931).

"Self-Portrait," oil on canvas (1903-06). "Self-Portrait," oH on canvas (1925-30),

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spired by the architecture of the region's saltbox

constructions. Always a realist painter, and criti
cal of many modernist trends. Hopjjer nonethe-
less inched toward idistraction in these simpli-
fied compositions that experimented with the
interplay of color, form, and light, For Hopper,
however, iirehitecture never was reducible lo
mere form—it always remained in dialogue
with nature. As the artist plainly remarked later
in his aireer, "What! wiinted to do was to paint
sunlight on the side of a house."
Although he visited New England regularly,
Greenwich Village (where he lived in the same
apartment faim ]9\?i until his death in 1%7)
was home, and New York set the stage for
many of his most iconic paintings. Just as he in
New England shunned dominiuit artistic mo-
tifs. Hopper disregardeti many Ja7.z Age sub-
jects—soaring skyscrapers, bustling streets,
and industrial machinery—favored by Ameri-
can modemisLs. Indeed, Hopper's New York is
at once instantly recognizable and strangely
unfamiliar; streets are devoid of pedestrians,
stores are without customers, and even auto-
mats—mtxiem restaurants in which coin-oper-
ated, food-dispensing machines replaced wait-
ers^—lack signs of anything automatic. Al-
though New York architecture rose to greai
new heights. Hopper inste;td favored a horizon-
tal compositional tbnmat more clo^ly linked to
landscape traditions. He also avoided signs of
the grit, noise, and commotion of urban life, im-
buing his portrayals of the city with an over-
whelming silence and disquieting stillness.
The voyeuristic possibilities inherent in the
modem city, especially ai night, fascinated
Hopper Stolen glances from fast-moving ele-
vated trains and glimpses from windows into
neighboring buildings allowed unprecedented
public access to private lives. In Hopper's
paintings. Figures—usually women, and often
alone—are seen undressing, reading, sewing,
dining, gazing out windows, or simply lost in
tliought. When Hopper depicLs more tiian one

"Cbop Suey," oil on canvas (1929). "Tables for Ladies," oil on canvas (1930).

36 USA TODAY * JANUARY 2008

 'Nighthawks," oil on canvas (1942).

"New York Restaurant," oil on canvas (c. 1922). "Automat," oil on canvas (1927).

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"Early Sunday Morning," oil on canvas (1930).

Ilgure, viewers (Jtict)mitcr itiiibigiious relalioiv
ships fraught with tension. Conversation and
movement are suspended, and ihere is the
sense ol' having stumbled upon some sort of
dr.ima; the artist, however, never divulges the
narr.ilivc details.
had a lilckiug jxissioii loi Llic llie-
ater—conventional and cinematic. In his first
professional job as a commercial illustrator, he
created publicity |x>sters for a New Jersey film
protkiciion company, and theater scenes are
present throughout his oeuvre. One of Hop-
pcy\ most t'clcbiitlcd
Movie." illustrates a movie theater with the
silver screen just visible to the left. The real
drama, however, is focused on the pensive,
uniformed usherette; for this young woman,
the cinema's promise of escape and fantasy

"Drug Store," oil on canvas (1927) Summertime," oil on canvas (1943).

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 "Gas," oil on canvas (1940).

has lost its hold. Standing alone, she ignores
the film, consumed by her private concems.
Theater and film inlluenced nol only whal
Hopper piiinteJ. but how he painted. He bor-
rowed numerous theatrical devices and trans-
lated them to his canvases to create dramatic.
suspensefial scenes. Viewers' glimpses into the
dramas Hopper depicted parallel ihose of
movie audiences, who peer unobserved into
the lives-—even the mosl intimate moments—
of others. Strong light and high contrasLs—so
important to Hopper—recall theatrical lighting
as well as the fllm-noir movies the artist ad-
mired, while Ihe hori/onlalily of many of
Hopper's works suggests the long pans and
unfolding narratives of film. In writing about
the propt)rtions ol' his canvases. Hopper noted
that the long horizontal shape hints at the

"Sunday," oil on canvas (1926). "Seven A.M.," oil on canvas (1948).

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space beyond the scene; indeed, his paintings

;ire not unlike film stills that arresl a narrativv
;md deprive the viewer of its context. A film-
maker's painter. Hopper has inspired numer-
ous, diverse directors—Alfred Hitchcock. Ri-
dley Scott, and Wini Wenders all have counted
him among their influences.
Whether Hopper portrayed the coast or the
ciiy. iintl regardless of the medium employed,
hi.s compositions capture ordinary moments
that few observers would stop to notice—and
even fewer would consider tit for art. For him,
real drama was found in the overkxiked: the
athlete suctching before a big race, commeivial
esiablishmeni.s before or after hours, a pause in
con\ersatioii between compiinions, or the the-
ater as the audience jusl begins to trickle in and
patrons take their seats. The arti.st"s architectur-
al preferences, too. favored the unfavored. "The City," oil on canvas (1927).

Room in New York," oil on canvas (1932) 'Office at Night," oil on canvas (1940).

•Room in Brooklyn," oil on canvas (1932). 'Apartment Houses," oil nn oinv.i'. (1923).

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"House at Dusk," oil on canvas (1935)
"Nigbt Windows," oil on canvas (1928)
"Eleven A.M.," oil on canvas (1926).
USA TODAY • JANUARY 2008
When he painted lighthouses, they were be-
lieved to be simple, utilitarian structtires and.
when he looked to Victorian architecture for
inspiration, the style was considered outmoded
Although the two women in "Chop Suey"
are fashionable—sporting form-fitting sweat-
ers, cloche liats. and miJieup—they are none-
tlieless depicted in a mundane moment, per-
haps while waiting for menus or the check.
Hopper recognized such an ordinary moment
in an unremati^able setting as an ideal vehicle
to suggest quiet, internalized human drainas.
Writer John Updike observed that it is as
though conversation at the Chop Suey table
has halted and both women are listening. The
brief interruption in action, the masklike face
of the protagonist, and tlie abstract geomeuies
in tlie windows contribute tt> the sense that the
unfolding narrative is not about these specific
Morning in a City," oil on canvas (1944).
"From Williamsburg Bridge," oil on canvas (1928).
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actions or this place, but rather about a modem
state of being.
Emptiness and silence pervade Hopper's
scenes. New Yorkers find thcnwelvcs iilone iti
the supposed privacy of tlieir homes and liotcl
rooms, but also in ihe public realm of restau-
txinl-s. lobbies, theaters, and the street, tn Neu
Engkind. houses and lighthouses .stand seclud-
ed on hillsides or iilong the coast, ht "Gas." a
scene from Truro, a lone attendant adjusts the
noz/.le at a deserted rural tilling station. The
lanky figure (not unlike that of the artist i
echoes the form of each pump, whose pro-
gression in the cetiter of the c;invtts leads the
viewer down the empty country road. In oihcr
works, the presence of iidditional figures
fellow diner. tra\'eler, colleague, or .spouse—
only renders tlie isolation more acute by unful-
filled priitiiises of trtte companionship. "Tbe ManstoKi Roof," watercolor over graphite on p<.pe( (1923).

'Burly Cobb's House," watercolor over graphite on paper (1930). "Second Story Sunlight," oil on canvas (1960).

"Rooms for Tourists," oil on canvas (1945). "Gloucester Roofs," watercolor over graphite on paper (1928).

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 "Cottages at Wellfleet," watercotor over graphite on paper (1933).

"Sea Watchers," oil on canvas (1952). "Lighthouse Hill," oil on canvas (1927).

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'Ground Swell," oil on canvas (1939).

"Deck of Beam Traveler," watercolor over graphite on paper (1923). "Two Trawlers," watercolor on paper (1923-24).

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'Gloucester Mansion," watercolor over graphite on paper (1924).
"Cape Cod Evening," oil on canvas (1939).
'Freight Cars, Gloucester," oil on canvas (1928).
USA TODAY * JANUARY 2008
Hopper's paintings invite endless interpreta-
tion; they variously have been described its
representations of loneliness, alienation, mel-
ancholy, or solitude. Hopper, however, cast
doubt on such n;adings. noting. "The loneli-
ness thing i.s overdone." Over the yeai\. when
prompted, he offered several explanations for
his paintings, often defining them in personal
lerms: "Great an." he wrote, "is the outward
expression of an inner lite in the artist, ^ d tJiis
inner life will result in his personal vision of
Ihe world."
In the I92()s, war-weary Amaican.s focused
on domestic concerns as the Harding and
Cooiidge administrations as.serted indepen-
dence from Europe. Tlie American art world
paralleled tlie isolationist policies of the govem-
ment and sought to establisli an alternate tradi-
tion to tlic dominant French nxxlei for modem
"Sun on Prospect Street, Gloucester, Massachusetts," oil on canvas (1934).
"Box Factory, Gloucester," watercolor and pencil on paper (1928).
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'Two on the Aisle," oil on canvas (1927).
art. While Paul Ce/anrie. Pablo Bcasso. and
Marcel Duchamp were lauded in certain
avunt-giiak' sectors, a stn)iig desire iiro.se for a
"native" American ;irt. To m;tn\. Hopper ;md
hi.s woiic fit this ide;il. Although he had stud-
ied as a young art student in Piiris and was in-
fluenced by the likes of E*.IOU;IR1 Manet ;uid
Edgar Dcgiis. Hopper largely tumcd his kick
on major developments in European mod-
ernism. Combined with his very American
subject matter and phiin style, this perceived
indejiendence helped establish Hopper as a
rugged individuiilist a njlc nuxlei for lui "au-
thentic" American an. Cultivated by critics,
ihis image was not entirely discouraged by
Ihe artist. As Hopper acknowledged ycioy, lat-
er, "The criiics give you an idcntily^—and
sometime.s. even, you give it a push."
Though Hopiier's resistance to art world
trends may have served him well in the
I92()s. it made him appeal out of touch in the
yean; following World War II, when a new
tyjie of American art rose to prominence.
Hopper. steadfiLst in his commitment to real-
ism, did not hide his disdain for idistraction,
He noied ihai a itrive to create "'puns paint-
ing,'" independent of life or nature, neither
was possible nor desirable: "We arc all
lx)und to the Earth with our experience of
life and the reactions of the mind, heart, ajid
eye, and our .sensations, by no means, consist
entiiriy of fonn, coloi; and design. We would
be leaving out a great deal thai 1 consider
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worthwhile expressing in painting. . . . "
While no longer pereeived as at the foa'-
front o\' Aniericiin modernism, Hop|Kr none-
theless had reached a venerable status, bol-
stered by a steiidy stre;ini of critical acclaim
and popular appe;il. In I '•US. he was inducted
into the National Institute of Arts and Letters;
in 1952. he was one of three U.S. represcnta-
tives at the prestigious Venice Biennale; and,
in 1956, he appeared on the cover of Tnnc
magazine. From that date until his death.
Hopper'.', work wasrepresentedin more than
a dozen exhibitions per year. HLS popularits
continues today.
The enduring fascination and broad ap-
peal of Hopper's art perhaps is best ex-
plained by its illusiveness. He oJTers a brand
of realism not bound byreality.His work ap-
pears at once traditional and modern: his
women are erotic and puritanical: and the
places he depicts are familiiir and foreign,
comfortable and disquieting. While Hopper
insisted that it was himself he was after in his
painting, a part of all of us resides in tliese
quiet spaces.
"Edward Hopper" is on view through
Jan. 21 at the National Gallery of Art, Wash-
ington, D.C. •
This article is adapted from a text written
and produced by the PuhVishin;^ Qff'tce and
Department of Exhibition Programs af the
National Gatleiy ofAn. Washington. D.C.
USA TODAY • JANUARY 2008
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