Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a painter, who depicted life in America in the 1920's, and the influence of the events of those times on people. Hopper inspired other artists, after his time, to paint in his style. The paintings he did showed the reaction of americans to events happening in the 1920s. By looking at his work, one can feel the emotions that people felt during these years, and the atmosphere in America all together. Hopper was a ground breaking artist of his time, and created new aspects in art, while influencing others. Edward Hopper was able to depict the scenes of the times, because he had an extreme good background in painting and drawing. He got involved with art as a child, and then attended the New York School of Art, from the years 1900 to 1906, while being trained by Robert Henri, one of the fathers of American Realism - a man whom he later described as 'the most influential teacher I had' (qtd.in Lucie-Smith 67) . From the years 1913 to the year 1923 he worked as a commercial illustrator to support himself, but it was not his real interest (Craven 435). Between the years 1906 and 1910 he made three trips to Europe, but these seemed to have very little influence on his style (ibiblio.org). After these years, Hop
As well as getting influenced by other great people, Hopper was a big figure to others. One of the reasons Hopper was able to depict the feeling of the 1920s was because he was influenced by other artists, and even film makers. Though his works were always interpreted in this way, the artist himself claims " I don't think I ever tried to paint the American scene; I'm just trying to paint myself" (qtd. The streets were also always deserted, and people were depicted inside of places, like cafes, stores and hotels. There are never any personal objects in the painting, that give people any sort of identity, or character. Since Hopper worked in his own style, and Burgin was a modernist artist, he did his versions of the modern "Office at NIght" and these works help us understand Hoppers messages even further (Dawtrey 159). There is also a loss in communication present, even between couples. He believed that people in the 1920s acted as if clones, and therefore the same image, of himself as the typical american, were used in the paintings. There is a " loss of community amidst modern capitalist competitive interest" (Doss 84). Dawtrey, the author of Investigating Modern Art, also described Hoppers work as "an investigation of the alienating and dehumanizing effects of capitalist work processes". This was the idea of an "unseen observer" (Dawtrey 160). From the diaries of Edward's wife, Josephine, we can tell that his works, especially "Nighthawks", was a reaction to the Japanese assault on Pear Harbor in 1941, after which the organized nation practically fell apart, due to shock (Beckett 137). Hopper also made up a new concept in art, which was then adapted by other painters, such as Burgin. These are the works that are most known, and used to represent life in the US.
Common topics in this essay:
Edward Hopper,
Lobby Hopper,
American Realism,
Pear Harbor,
Office NIght,
American Scene,
Jo Beckett,
Modern Art,
Office Night,
Henri Hopper,
edward hopper,
office night,
hopper able depict,
beckett 136,
unseen observer,
people hopper,
doss 84,
able depict,
revealed influence,
american scene,
people lost,
|
Acceptance Essays
