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Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
American painter and engraver, born in Nyack, N.Y. Hopper began to study art in New York City in l899. In the years between l900 and l906 he studied at the New York School of Art under Robert Henri and Kenneth Hayes Miller. He lived in France for a year but was little influenced by the artistic currents there. After he returned to the United States he concentrated on illustration work to make a living. He took up etching, that would capture his concepts of everyday life in America. These works contained the essentials of his later paintings and would be known for an uncompromising realism that would go beyond mere naturalism. He achieved some success with his early paintings but it was his etchings, which remain popular. In 1920 a showing of his paintings was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York held an exhibition of his work in 1933. His work would be known for their careful selection of people, buildings and interiors often in inhospitable environments. In works without a human presence he Hopper transfers these qualities to the architecture or even to the landscape itself. Human emotion is then achieved using intense light to bring out human emotion. He worked to create realistic pictures of sunlit streets and houses, often without figures. In his paintings one can detect the feeling of stark loneliness. His work in oil and watercolor is very carefully painted, using light and shade for pattern. This can be seen in 'Early Sunday Morning'. |