What explains the popularity of the paintings of the king of American realism and other facts about Edward Hopper

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Edward Hopper is one of the most recognizable American realists of the 20th century. He is best known for his scenes depicting isolation and commonplace situations. His work highlights the individualistic side of American society by addressing isolation, loneliness, and American alienation.

1. Biography

Edward was an American artist born in 1882 in the small town of Nyack, about forty minutes north of New York City. He had a comfortable life growing up and his parents encouraged him to pursue creativity as a career. He studied for six years at the New York School of Art and Design. Like many artists, his work was more celebrated after death than during life, despite the relative success. His work can be found in many major museum collections in the United States.

2. His paintings illustrate social distancing

His work explores and examines the relationship between the environment and the human figure (or lack thereof). Many times only one person appears in his compositions. Edward's paintings emphasize the themes of isolation and loneliness. At one time, these works successfully portrayed the emotions of Americans both during the World Wars and during the Great Depression, personifying life in a world full of self-isolation, social distancing and loneliness. Some argue that this is not the case.

His paintings depict people who prefer to be alone, and not those who should be alone. However, the feeling of loneliness and alienation in the works is undeniable. The paintings depict introversion and loneliness, revealing scenes of the daily life of single people. Even in his compositions with the participation of many people, he somehow managed to demonstrate that at the end of the day a person, in fact, remains alone.

3. Love for art

Edward began to take an interest in art as a career at the age of five. Edward completed his first signed drawing when he was just ten years old. His mother and father encouraged his interest in art by providing materials and teaching aids. Throughout his childhood, he studied art, usually practicing his skills with still lifes and geometric drawings. As a teenager, he worked with a variety of materials, including watercolors, oil paints, charcoal and ink. Edward painted his first oil-signed painting, Rowboat in Rocky Cove, in 1895, when he was only thirteen years old.

4. Architecture

His interest in architecture began at an early age, as did his interest in art. When he was a teenager, he showed the desire to become a naval architect. Although he never pursued a career as an architect, his interest in it is evident in his work.

His works on buildings tell the same story as his paintings of people. These structures become a kind of portrait with an invisible human presence. The dialogue between atmosphere and architecture reflects Edward's dialogues between people and the environment they occupy. The main theme of his work is the relationship between each element. His focus on architecture has enabled him to improve environmental management to the fullest in terms of creating an atmosphere.

5. Commercial illustrator

Edward began his creative career as a commercial illustrator. During this time, he created covers for trade magazines. His work as a commercial illustrator did not bring him satisfaction. However, this was his only source of income. He found the job creatively suffocating. He eventually decided to quit his job as an illustrator, opting to work as a practicing artist.

This transitional time in Edward's life was spent traveling through Europe and studying at the New York School of Art and Design. The time spent in Europe allowed him to draw inspiration from various sources, which later became essential for his creative process and paintings. Studying at the New York School of Art and Design provided him with the opportunity to develop his craft and led to a meeting with his muse and future wife.

6. French art inspiration

Like many American artists, he drew inspiration from European art, more specifically from French. From 1906 to 1910, Edward traveled three times in Europe, spending most of his time in France. While there, he continued to develop his artistic skills, focusing mainly on landscapes. After 1910, he never returned to France.

Instead of attending the academy, he visited museums, observing the work of Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Camille Pissarro. His observations allowed him to advance in his art. He managed to expand his color palette and portray light effectively. While Edward is an American realist, it cannot be denied that his work reflects the Impressionist movement that took place just a century earlier.

7. Married life

Unlike many artists of the twentieth century, he had one lifelong partner. Hopper's wife, Josephine Verstyle Nivison "Joe" Hopper, was also an artist. Although interest in her art and career faded in the 1920s, she continued to create art until her death. She spent most of her time writing about her life in diaries. The couple met while studying art.

They got married in 1924. Unfortunately, Hopper's career and work dominated his wife's creativity, as he did over her. Their relationship was anything but perfect. Edward was incredibly violent and possessed. Jo died shortly after her husband was forty-three years old.

8. Muse and model

Jo became Edward's muse for life. She was the main female model for his paintings. Their turbulent and often violent relationship was the catalyst for Hopper's work. They worked in the same studio and rarely had time to run away from each other. She helped Edward become the artist he is now considered to be by introducing him to the beauty of watercolors. Her contributions were not limited to modeling or suggesting watercolors.

She will fuel his competitive spirit by starting a job that will inspire Edward to start it. Josephine was also Edward's accountant. In addition to writing diaries, she kept extensive documentation of Edward's art. It cannot be denied that without Josephine there would not have been Edward Hopper as we see him today. His posthumous success is also attributed to her. In 2018, his painting "Chop Suey", inspired by their courtship, sold for almost ninety-two million dollars.

9. He sold his first painting for $ 250

He was one of many artists who struggled to sell their paintings at first. At thirty, Sailing became his first painting sold. She was exhibited at the New York Armory Show. The Armory Show is one of the most impressive exhibitions in the United States as it sought to highlight contemporary art in America. Sailing sold for about two hundred and fifty dollars, which is about six and a half thousand dollars today. The painting was sold to Thomas F. Vitor, a New Jersey merchant. The work is currently in the permanent collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, along with sixteen other works by Hopper.

9. Popularity after the end of life

Although Edward began pursuing art at a young age, he struggled to achieve early success. As mentioned earlier, he did not manage to sell a single painting until he was thirty. Joe was credited not only with the role of his muse, but also with his success as an artist. By the time she started dating Edward, she had already established herself as an accomplished artist.

Josephine used her connections with New York curators to share his work with hers at the Brooklyn Museum. This mercy ultimately led Edward to success as an artist. He finally received reviews from art critics who adored his work. After the exhibition, his career continued to grow, as he began to receive impressive sums for his paintings. Edward continued to bathe in popularity despite changing artistic tastes until his death in 1967.

10. Legacy

He spent most of his time in his studio. Between painting and fighting with his wife, he had little time to pass on his craft to others, especially since he had no offspring. However, Hopper's legacy continued through those who found inspiration in his work. Edward's paintings and drawings left a lasting impression on the genre of American realism and depicted everyday life. His work still has meaning today, inspiring contemporary artists whose work expands on the themes present in his work.

11. Love for cinema

Edward's paintings imitate some kind of cinematic quality that many can appreciate. He was very interested in film and cinematography and was considered a lifelong fan of both. Going to the movies was one of the few things he was willing to spend money on, as he was usually considered economical. In turn, his interest in cinema inadvertently led directors to be influenced by his work.

12. Edward Hopper's paintings inspired Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was a twentieth-century filmmaker often referred to as the "Master of Suspense". He is best known for his iconic films, which rely on to instill anxiety and fear in viewers. Norman Bates' house in Hitchcock's Psycho was directly modeled after the Hopper House by the railroad. Unsurprisingly, Edward's paintings inspired many filmmakers. The artist's work often reflected cinematography and film noir, making his style an obvious choice for inspiration.

13. His work has inspired contemporary photographers

Many cite Edward's work as a source of inspiration for contemporary art. Unsurprisingly, contemporary photographers often cite the artist's work as a source of inspiration for compositions and lighting. Edward's work revolved around the creation of atmosphere and environment, and the presence (or absence) of a human figure. His work focuses on similar concepts found in photography, including the psychological depth of the image. Hopper's use of emphasizing the relationship between subjects in an image laid the foundation for the study of this same relationship in contemporary photography.

14. Great Depression

The Great Depression lasted for about ten years in the United States, beginning in 1929. During this time, the US economy and society have suffered greatly. High unemployment, homelessness and high suicide rates are all hallmarks of the Great Depression. However, this time of disaster inspired Edward. His work included scenes of isolated people. His work has emphasized the emotional burden on many Americans.

The Great Depression also led to a new kind of artist opportunity invented by the Work Progress Administration (WPA), which hired artists to perform public works with federal funding. This allowed art to become a more accessible and indispensable resource for inspiration and hope. In turn, art became a valuable asset whose value extended beyond the end of the Depression. For Hopper and other artists, this new worldview was a lucky ticket that led to the success of many artists of the twentieth century.

Nighthawks is one of his most popular and acclaimed paintings. According to Josephine's documentation, Edward completed the job just weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Undoubtedly, this landmark event in US history has become widely associated with the painting. The work emphasizes the feeling of wartime alienation.

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was not directly involved in World War II. In this work, he refers to the coldness of insulation and the impact it has. One of the reasons for Edward's success during the Great Depression and World War II was that his work became available to Americans. It was a time of sorrow and inevitable doom. Feelings carried over from the Second World War led to the emergence of Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, and other attempts to rationalize and comprehend the brutality of war.

15. Paintings

Despite the fact that Edward created just under a thousand works, many do not consider him a prolific artist. In fact, he painted only about four hundred paintings. Edward Hopper began painting at an early age and continued to pursue art throughout his life, but it was a time consuming process. Forming ideas for new works was not easy for him. He often made several sketches of ideas before he even started drawing. Towards the end of his life, his productivity continued to decline. At seventy years old, he created only about five paintings a year.

And in continuation of the topic, read also about how Thomas Hart Benton taught Paul Jackson Pollock, or the story of one of the most inimitable American artists of the 20th century.