Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was an American Realist painter. The most important modern American painter of his time, Hopper painted small town American life, full of solitude and introspection.
Edward Hopper was born in the small Hudson River town of Nyack, New York State on the 22nd July 1882, Hopper captured the stark, vastness of the physical face of America. His painting Lighthouse at Two Lights (1927) is typical of Hopper painting style.
Realism - and Covert Symbolism
His paintings are supposedly realist but he also makes frequent use of covert symbolism. Hopper's paintings have been compared to the realist plays of the writer Ibsen. Modern in their bleakness and simplicity, they are also full of nostalgia for the puritan virtues of the American past.
Later Years and Exhibitions
Hopper was little affected by the Great Depression having become extremely well known. In 1929, he was included in the second exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA),Paintings by Nineteen Living Americans, and in 1930 The House by the Railroad entered the museum's permanent collection.
In the same year, the Whitney Museum bought Hopper's Early Sunday Morning, it is the most expensive purchase up to that time.
In 1933 Hopper was given a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. This was followed, in 1950, by a fuller retrospective show at the Whitney.
As time passed, he found suitable subjects difficult to discover and often felt blocked, unable to paint. The rise of Abstract Expressionism left him marooned.
Hopper died in 1967, isolated if not forgotten, and Jo died ten months later. His true importance has only been fully realized in the years since his death!!!
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