posted on 15 Dec 2015

Silent Theater: The Art of Edward Hopper by Walter Wells

I love Edward Hopper. He really appeals to my romantic notion of America and especially New York - even though it's a New York from a lost time in the past. Over recent years Hopper has become increasingly popular and his painting Nighthawks gets reproduced so frequently that its in danger of becoming mundane. I now tend to associate Hopper's work with another artist from a different medium -  the musician Tom Waits. Waits  is able to conjure late night bar-life in a whisky-soaked New York basement clubs much in the way I feel Hopper creates his world. These two are soul-mates when it come to their inner vision.

Hopper had a hard time making a breakthrough but his realistic style was ultimately really popular with the art market and by the time he was in his early forties he achieved the sort of financial security most artists never see in their lifetime. His reputation became so well established that some of his most financially successful years were actually during the Great Depression - and he was able to move to the exclusive Cape Cod on the proceeds of his sales.

After several years of illness - he had a troublesome prostate that required many surgical procedures - he finally died in 1967. His wife died not long after him and left more than 3,000 canvasses to the Whitney Musuem of American Art. Much of the popularity of Hopper's work lies in the fact that he is a realist painter in an age when experimentation was everywhere and this makes him accessible. However, one of the things I most admire is the way his urban pictures confront the inevitability of isolation and loneliness. So many of Hopper's subjects are alone in a world of many people, unable to communicate and they are frequently depicted as having a metaphorical and actual sheet of glass between them and the world. Many of his characters are lost in their own thoughts - unaware of the fact that the painter is making them the subject of our stare - and they are, perhaps, deeply unhappy in an almost existential way. Even when there are couples together they are somehow alone - whether it's on their front porch or meeting across a table in an elegant cafe.

This Phaidon Edition of his collected art is a really beautiful production. Like many of these art books it is a bit of a beast in terms of size and weight - you wont be reading this in bed - but once you've got it you wont need another book about Hopper and you can pick up a copy on the second hand market for a touch under £25.

Terry Potter

December 2015