For the month of July, we’ll be examining some of America’s famous painters. To kick things off, we’ll be exploring the life and career of Edward Hopper. Edward Hopper was known for capturing scenes of everyday life. You can see some of his art at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. To visit the MoMa, reserve one of our Museum Passes!
Edward Hopper was born in 1882 in Nyack New York to an upper middle class family. His father, Garret Henry was a dry merchant, who was not as good as his other family members, he still was able to make decent money to support his children. His mother, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith had a small inheritance which went into the family’s earnings. In his childhood home they lived with his grandmother and a maid. Both Edward and his sister Marion were taught at private schools. You can visit his childhood home in Nyack today, as it is a part of the National Register of Historic Places. At the age of five, Edward’s talent for drawing grew, taking after his mother. Both of his parents supported his art and provided him with materials. Some of his earliest drawings are sketches of shapes such as vases. In his teen years he started drawing with ink, charcoal, and watercolor. It was during this time, he started working on a few political cartoons. Initially, he wanted to become a naval architect but shortly after high school he pivoted to art. He started college around 1899 and studied at the New York School of Art which later became Parsons School of Design. At the School of Art, he would spend six years learning from the best teachers including William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri. Following his parents advice, Edward took a commercial advertising job to make money. Wanting to do more, Edward began panting with dark color palettes which later became his signature style. He also would frequent cafes, opera, theaters and more capturing the night life. This is known as realist art.
It’s hard for me to decide what I want to paint. I go for months without finding it sometimes. It comes slowly
After returning from a trip to Paris, Edward decided to pursue art full time. However, he found it to be very difficult and went back to commercial illustration as a freelance artist. On a trip to the coast of Massachusetts, he painted his first lighthouse titled Squam Light. In 1913, he sold his first painting, Sailing (1911). Growing frustrated with his painting skills, he switched to etching. By 1923, he had created over 70 etch drawings, many of which were of Paris and New York City. Hopper only did landscapes in oil paint. In the early 1920s, he was getting recognition. Some of his works from this time are Evening Wind, New York Restaurant and The Catboat. During this time he completed the first of his window paintings. He won the Logan Prize from the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1923.
Also in 1923, Edward was reintroduced to former classmate, Josephine Nivison while on a painting trip. During the year, they would frequently meet and begin a relationship. Sometime in 1924, they were married. She took over as his manager, helping him get interviews and modeling for some of his pieces.
“Sometimes talking to Eddie is just like dropping a stone in a well, except that it doesn’t thump when it hits bottom”
With Nivison’s assistance, Hopper’s Gloucester watercolors were put in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. The Museum bought Hopper’s The Mansard Roof for $100 dollars. When he was 41, Hopper was selling his work steadily, making enough money for a modest living. Two on the Aisle, created in 1927, sold for $1,500 dollars. With the success of the sale, he was able to buy a car, making trips to New England more affordable. Two years later, in 1929, Hopper created Chop Suey and Railroad Sunset. The Hopper’s would go on to build a summer home in Truro on Cape Cod, and Edward would use the landscape in many of his artworks. While having Cape Cod as a new base, Edward started going to Vermont and Maine for new muses. He also traveled south to Charleston and Mexico, and later to California. A patron, Stephen Clark, donated Hopper’s House by the Railroad to the Museum of Modern Art(MoMa), making it the first oil painting at the MoMa. This painting would go on to serve as the inspiration for the Bates Motel in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and the Addams Family home. In the midst of The Great Depression, Hopper was selling work to major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Throughout 1931, Hopper sold 30 paintings. Around this time, the Whitney Museum started placing his pieces in their exhibits marking a partnership between the two. Towards the end of the 1930s and early 1940s saw the creation of some of Hopper’s best known works: New York Movie (1939), Nighthawks (1942), Hotel Lobby (1943) and Morning in a City (1944). Hopper was selected to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale. Shortly after, Hopper’s health started to decline.
In 1966, Edward Hopper was awarded The Edward MacDowell Medal by the MacDowell Colony for his contribution to American culture. One year later, on May 15th 1967, Edward Hopper died. Ten months later, Josephine also passed away. Josephine bequeathed their joint collection to the Whitney Museum. Marion’s caregiver, Arthayer Sanborn claimed that he inherited around 300 drawings and paintings. Whitney employee, Gail Levin, found no proof in Josephine’s letters that they gave Sanborn paintings. Along with The Met, MoMa and the Whitney, the Des Moines Art Center and Art Institute of Chicago share Hooper artwork.
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