Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper, 1882-1967: Vision of Reality (1995)
by Ivo Kranzfelder, translated by John William Gabriel
200 pages - Taschen
Edward Hopper was simultaneously out of step with his times and the embodiment of them. Beginning as a commercial artist, his story is as quiet and calm as his paintings; during his career he took but one trip overseas--to Paris early in his career--and did not seem terribly impressed by it. His painting style changed very little during his long life, and his conservative, restrained, and quiet paintings don't look for the attention of whatever painting fashion was then the trend. He always seemed to be outside any contemporary 'scene' and yet in hindsight it is hard to imagine America in the first half of the 20th century and not think of a scene right out of a Hopper painting.
The reproductions in this book are wonderful, but the text is almost irrelevant; it's so much intellectualizing and rationalizing and quoting of works by people that the author believes have some relation...it's almost embarrassing. Art should be to a large degree, perhaps even primarily, about a gut-level connection--not filling your head with a bunch of half-baked ideologies and theories. Much better was the guided tour I took last fall at The Whitney Museum which probably has the best Hopper collection in the world (and also displayed other visiting items, such as Nighthawks). If you are in New York City you should go.
Some of my favourite pieces in this book were Yonkers, Stairway, The Locomotive, House by the Railroad, Gas, House at Dusk, Cape Cod Evening, Lighthouse Hill, The City, Approaching a City, Early Sunday Morning, Compartment C, Car 193, Solitary Figure in a Theatre, New York Movie, Chop Suey, Office at Night, Excursion into Philosophy, and Western Motel.
by Ivo Kranzfelder, translated by John William Gabriel
200 pages - Taschen
Edward Hopper was simultaneously out of step with his times and the embodiment of them. Beginning as a commercial artist, his story is as quiet and calm as his paintings; during his career he took but one trip overseas--to Paris early in his career--and did not seem terribly impressed by it. His painting style changed very little during his long life, and his conservative, restrained, and quiet paintings don't look for the attention of whatever painting fashion was then the trend. He always seemed to be outside any contemporary 'scene' and yet in hindsight it is hard to imagine America in the first half of the 20th century and not think of a scene right out of a Hopper painting.
The reproductions in this book are wonderful, but the text is almost irrelevant; it's so much intellectualizing and rationalizing and quoting of works by people that the author believes have some relation...it's almost embarrassing. Art should be to a large degree, perhaps even primarily, about a gut-level connection--not filling your head with a bunch of half-baked ideologies and theories. Much better was the guided tour I took last fall at The Whitney Museum which probably has the best Hopper collection in the world (and also displayed other visiting items, such as Nighthawks). If you are in New York City you should go.
Some of my favourite pieces in this book were Yonkers, Stairway, The Locomotive, House by the Railroad, Gas, House at Dusk, Cape Cod Evening, Lighthouse Hill, The City, Approaching a City, Early Sunday Morning, Compartment C, Car 193, Solitary Figure in a Theatre, New York Movie, Chop Suey, Office at Night, Excursion into Philosophy, and Western Motel.
