edward hopper

Edward Hopper's Maine Paintings to be Exhibited at Bowdoin College

Filed under: Art

In July the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine will stage an exhibition of paintings and watercolors produced by famed American realist Edward Hopper during his many sojourns in Maine. Hopper spent several summers there beginning in 1914 and painted many Maine scenes, including the lighthouse at Two Lights, above, in Cape Elizabeth, from 1929. For Edward Hopper such weather-beaten landmarks "symbolized the solitary individual stoically facing the onslaught of change in an industrial society." Organized with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, which has a major Hopper show running through April, the Bowdoin exhibition includes over 80 works from both public and private collections.

Tags: art, Bowdoin College, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, colleges, Edward Hopper, Maine, museum, New England, painting

Early Works by Edward Hopper Exhibited at Mark Murray Fine Paintings in New York

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Early Works by Edward Hopper Exhibited at Mark Murray Fine Paintings in New York

In conjunction with the Whitney Museum of Art's acclaimed Edward Hopper exhibition, Mark Murray Fine Paintings on Manhattan's Upper East Side is holding an exhibition of original works of art by the groundbreaking Ashcan School artist. All of the works are available for purchase.

Thirty rare early drawings, watercolors and a landscape in oil are on view at the gallery, all of which were formerly in the collection of the artist's widow, Jo Hopper, and subsequently given to the Reverend Arthayor R. Sanborn. Interestingly, Sanborn was a close friend of the Hopper family and served as the minister who officiated at the burial ceremonies for Hopper in 1967.

Mark Murray Fine Paintings' exhibition reveals Hopper's early mastery of drawing, particularly the human form, his fondness for literary sources, and his admiration for the paintings of the Old Masters. A subtle psychology can also be seen taking shape, especially in the many subjects he approached as an illustrator.

Gallery: Edward Hopper Exhibit at Mark Murray Fine Paintings

Three highlights of this collection include a large and bold drawing depicting the artist's mother, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper, executed c. 1900; an early landscape in oil titled "Country Road" (1897) (seen above), one of only 32 paintings by Hopper remaining in private hands; and a striking illustration depicting firemen at work titled "Under Control" (1907-10). A selection of drawings from this collection were included in the catalogue for an exhibition titled "The Early Drawings of Edward Hopper" (with an essay by Hopper scholar Gail Levin), held at Kennedy Galleries, New York in 1995.

Tags: art, art gallery, Ashcan, edward hopper, exhibition, Mark Murray, Mark Murray Fine Paintings, whitney museum, Whitney Museum of Art

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Edward Hopper and His Friends

by Bobbie Leigh (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

Be prepared to fall in love with Edward Hopper all over again. You might even have had a poster of one of his night scenes in your college dorm room. In the new show of his work and that of some 30 other Hopper contemporaries, Hopper (1882-1967) still emerges as one of the most compelling artists of the last century. "Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time" is at the Whitney which supposedly has some 3,000 Hopper works given by his wife Jo, also an art student and the model for most of the women in his paintings.

The show covers American realism from roughly 1900-1940 and documents the way Hopper and his "friends" rebelled against the academic art that dominated Europe. No more lovely scenes of parks and posh picnics along the Seine, Hopper and his contemporaries -- William Glackens, George Bellow, Thomas Hart Benton to name just a few whose works are on view --- painted everyday scenes. They were drawn to tugboats, bridges, railroad cars, the new skyscrapers. But unlike his contemporaries, Hopper disliked regionalism which made a caricature of America. He advocated an "American art that transcended national, local, and regional traits," according to the sumptuous show catalog.

Tags: American realism, edward hopper, Everett Shinn, George Bellows, museum exhibit, museum exhibition, painting, Thomas Hart Benton, whitney museum, William Glackens

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Swann Galleries Showcases Art of New York City

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

New York City has inspired artists for many years. Swann Galleries is selling some of the most significant examples of printmaking depicting New York City in the first half of the 20th century during their Scenes of the City: Prints, Drawings & Paintings of New York 1900 -2000 on September 16. The top lot, shown above, is Edward Hopper's Night Shadows, etching,1921, a print that shows the same location near the Hudson River as his 1913 painting, New York Corner, in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It is estimated at $30,000 to $50,000.

Etchings from the turn of the century, like Childe Hassam's Fifth Avenue, Noon, 1916 ($10,000 to $15,000), and Washington's Birthday, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, 1916 ($8,000 to $12,000), showcase the city during a period of massive growth. Many of the pieces in this auction aren't just art, they are history such as John Sloan's etchings, Sculpture in Washington Square, 1925 ($2,500 to $3,500), Fourteenth Street, The Wigwam, 1928 ($2,500 to $3,500), which illustrates the last physical address of Tammany Hall, and George Bellows's lithograph, Solitude, 1917 ($1,500 to $2,500), exemplify the Ash Can School, where the gritty realism of Manhattan took center stage.

Moving ahead in the time line a bit, lithographs by Raphael Soyer and Louis Lozowick represent the men and architecture of Depression-era Manhattan. Lozowick's Mural Study: Lower Manhattan, 1936 ($7,000 to $10,000), and Mural Study: Triborough Bridge, 1936 ($4,000 to $6,000), are connected to the artist's commission from the Treasury Relief Art Project for two large oil paintings to adorn the walls of the Midtown Manhattan Post office at 33rd Street and 8th Avenue. Works from the auction will be on public exhibition on September 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, September 13 to Wednesday, September 15, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, September 16, 10 a.m. to noon.

Tags: art, childe hassam, edward hopper, new york city, prints, swann galleries

An Homage to Edward Hopper

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Books

To accompany a major new European traveling exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, Fondazione Roma Museo in Rome and Fondation de l'Hermitage in Lausanne, Skira has released a massive new monograph on famed American artist Edward Hopper. Illustrated with over 150 oils, watercolors, etchings, and drawings with critical comments on their formal and technical characteristics, topics include Hopper's European travels and his love of movies that influenced his work in various ways, his early work as an illustrator and printmaker, and his process of drawing versus painting. Among the artworks included are Cape Cod Sunset, Second Story Sunlight (shown on the book's cover, above) and several self-portraits from the Whitney Museum of American Art; the famous Morning Sun from the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, and a number of lesser-known watercolors and oils from Hopper's journeys to Paris. Also included are essays by several noted scholars, and an extensive chronology and bibliography.

Tags: American art, art, coffee table books, Edward Hopper, Europe, exhibition, museum, painter, painting, Whitney Museum of American Art