Edward Hopper

America’s foremost modern painter; famous for his portrayal of American landscapes, urban streets and a vernacular American architecture

By Alexandra A. Jopp

The poet of quotidian scenes, Hopper became known as one of the America’s most admired realist painters of the twentieth century, as well as one of the greatest American scene painters, whose works are considered icons of modern art.

I. Biography

Edward Hopper is on the short list of America’s greatest artists. In numerous etchings, watercolors and oils, he depicted ordinary Americans and scenes from everyday life that are considered icons of modern art. His subjects were painted in an expansive and simplified realistic style that used stark contrasts of light and shadow. The mood and atmosphere characteristic of Hopper’s paintings can be seen in his best known works, such as Lighthouse at Two Lights (1929) New York Movie,(1930); Office at Night (1940); Gas (1940) and Nighthawks (1942), one of the most famous paintings in the history of American art.

Hopper was born on July 22, 1882, in Nyack, N.Y., on the Hudson River, a few miles north of Manhattan. His roots reach back to the old Dutch settlements that interrupt the wooded bluffs and promontories along the lower Hudson River. His father, Garret Henry Hopper, ran a dry goods store. His mother, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper, encouraged her children’s interest in theatre and art. Hopper’s early training took place at the New York School of Art under such artists as William Merritt Chase, Kenneth Hayes Miller and Robert Henri. For nearly 20 years afterward, Hopper made his living as an illustrator.

Between 1906 and 1910, Hopper made three trips to Europe, spending much of his time in Paris. While he apparently was not influenced by the radical artistic movements such as Cubism and Fauvism then emerging in the French capital, he did embrace Impressionist techniques. As Gail Levin observed in Hopper’s Places, “Not only did the pastel tonalities of Renoir, Sisley, and Monet motivate him to lighten his own palette, but under the influence of their work, he also painted with shorter, more broken brushstrokes.”1 Though the strokes were fluid, he placed them so precisely that the whole work becomes sharp and clear. Hopper was so committed to realism, to portraying life as he saw it in front of him that he said that his “aim in painting has always been the most exact transcription of my most intimate impressions of nature.”2

In 1913, Hopper was included in New York City’s famous Armory Show exhibition, and he sold his painting Sailing (1911) there. He then began his career as a commercial artist, though he wanted to paint “sunlight on the side of a house.” He first exhibited at the Whitney Studio Club in 1920, but it was during the next decade that he developed his own way of looking at things. In 1924, when he was 42 years old; he was given a one-man exhibition at the Frank K.M. Rehn Gallery in New York City. The show sold out, and Hopper became a sensation in the art world. That was also the year he married the painter Josephine Verstille Nivison. By 1925, he had given up on commercial art and was devoting himself primarily to oils and watercolors. A few years later, the now-established Hopper and his wife started dividing their time between New York and a summer home on Cape Cod, though they also traveled across the United States and into Mexico. Hopper depicted in his paintings many of the sights they came upon during those trips. In 1942, he produced his signature work, Nighthawks, a depiction of an urban diner that masterfully uses light and space.

Edward Hopper was one of the America’s best and most important representational painters of the twentieth century. He was a modernist, a symbolist, a realist and a self-proclaimed Impressionist. He was, Philip Leider wrote, “one of the very few artists whose work cuts across all the lines of contention that characterized his times.”3 Hopper searched for the typical scene, not the flamboyant one, and found that he often had to choose from a number of experiences and reduce them to a common denominator on which to base his style. He paid special interest to architecture – buildings, cafés, shops, lighthouses, railroad stations – to means of transportation – trains, boats, automobiles – and to figures related to his surroundings. Hopper’s evocative images – like the works of Picasso, whom Hopper considered “unpredictable” – show us a new way of seeing the twentieth century.

II. Chronology

• 1882 Born on July 22 in Nyack, N.Y.
• 1899 Graduated from Nyack High School and studied illustration at the Correspondence School of Illustrating, New York City
• 1900-6 Studied at the William Merritt Chase School of Art (later the New York School of Art and now Parsons, The New School for Design)
• 1906-7 Spent a year in Europe, primarily in Paris.
• 1907 Sailed to New York City and worked as a commercial artist
• 1908 Began to exhibit at the Harmonie Club in New York City
• 1909-10 Drawn to French culture, Manet and other impressionists, he returned to Europe
• 1910 Included in “Exhibition of Independent Artists” in New York City
• 1913 Sailing (1911) sold at Armory Show in New York City
• 1915 Began to etch and created 52 plates over next 13 years
• 1916 Paris watercolor caricatures reproduced in Arts and Decoration
• 1918 Exhibited etchings at Chicago Society of Etchers
• 1920 First one-person exhibition, Whitney Studio Club, New York City
• 1921-5 Included in annual exhibition at Whitney Studio Club, New York City
• 1922 Exhibited Paris watercolor caricatures at Whitney Studio Club
• 1923 Received Logan Prize, Chicago Society of Etchers
• 1924 Married painter Josephine Verstille Nivison on July 9
• 1924 One-person exhibition of watercolors at Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery in New York City sold out
• 1926 Included in “Today in American Art” group exhibition, Frank K.M. Rehn Gallery; one-person exhibition of watercolors and etchings at St. Botolph Club, Boston
• 1929 One-person exhibition of drawings, watercolors and oils, Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery; included in “Paintings by Nineteen Living Americans” exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
• 1933 Retrospective exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
• 1934 Retrospective exhibition, Arts Club of Chicago
• 1935 Received Gold Temple Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and first purchase prize in watercolor, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass.
• 1937 Received W. A. Clark Prize and Corcoran Gold Medal, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
• 1942 Received Ada S. Garrett Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
• 1942 Painted Nighthawks (1942), arguably his most famous work
• 1945 Received Logan Art Institute Medal and Honorarium, Art Institute of Chicago; elected to National Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1950 Retrospective exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art; show toured to Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Detroit Institute of Arts; received honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Art Institute of Chicago
• 1952 Included among four artists chosen by American Federation of Arts as United States’ representatives at Venice Biennale
• 1953 Received honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Rutgers University
• 1954 Received first prize for watercolors, Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio
• 1955 Received Gold Medal for Painting from National Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1956-7 Received Huntington Hartford Foundation fellowship for six months at foundation headquarters, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
• 1957 Received New York Board of Trade’s Salute to the Arts Award and first prize, Fourth International Hallmark Art Award
• 1959 One-person exhibition, Currier Museum of Art; Manchester, N.H.; show toured to Rhode Island School of Design
• 1960 One-person exhibition, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn.; received Art in America annual award
• 1962 Retrospective exhibition of graphic work, Philadelphia Museum of Art; show toured to Worcester Art Museum, Worcester Mass.
• 1963 Retrospective exhibition, Arizona Art Gallery, South Truro, Mass.; received award from St. Botolph Club, Boston
• 1964 Retrospective exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art; show toured in 1965 to Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of Arts, and City Art Museum, St. Louis, Mo.; received M. V. Kohnstamm Prize for Painting from Art Institute of Chicago; fell ill, leaving him unable to paint
• 1965 Received honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree, Philadelphia College of Art; completed last work, Two Comedians
• 1966 Received Edward MacDowell Medal from MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H.
• 1967 Died on May 15 in his studio in New York City

III. Collections

• Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Mass.
• Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
• Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Ariz.
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine
• Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
• Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
• Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery, Canajoharie, N.Y.
• Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio
• Cincinnati Art Museum
• Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences, Charleston, W.V.
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine
• Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
• Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, N.H.
• Dallas Museum of Art
• Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio
• Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Del.
• Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
• Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass.
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
• Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tenn.
• Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
• Maier Museum of Art at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, Va.
• Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, Dallas
• Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, N.J.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Mich.
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, N.Y.
• Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Fla.
• Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Palmer Museum of Art at Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Penn.
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• San Diego Museum of Art
• Sheldon Art Gallery, Lincoln, Neb.
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
• Smithsonian Institution Art Inventories, Washington, D.C.
• Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Ind.
• Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Wash.
• Tate Gallery, London
• Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago
• The Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
• The Newark Museum, Newark, N.J.
• The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
• Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
• Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va.
• Virtual Museum of Canada
• Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn.
• Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
• Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Penn.
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass.
• Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

IV. Exhibitions

• 1913 Armory Show
• 1912-81 MacDowell Club
• 1966 MacDowell Club
• 1917 Society of Independent Artists
• 1918-24 Chicago SE
• 1919 Penguin Club
• 1920-29 Whitney Studio Club
• 1920 National Arts Club
• 1920 Ontario AG
• 1920-25 Brooklyn Society of Etchers
• 1921-23 Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• 1921-23 National Academy of Design
• 1922 American Academy & Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1923-25 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• 1923 Brooklyn Museum
• 1923-28 Cleveland Museum of Art
• 1923 Corcoran
• 1924 Rehn Gallery
• 1925 New York Public Library
• 1925 Alliance
• 1925 Macbeth Gallery
• 1925 Brooklyn Museum
• 1926 Boston Art Club
• 1926 Cincinnati Art Museum
• 1927 Downtown Gallery
• 1928 Cincinnati Art Museum
• 1928 Rehn Gallery
• 1928 Downtown Gallery
• 1928 Fogg AM
• 1928 Wadsworth Athenaeum
• 1928 Philips Memorial Gallery
• 1928 Detroit Institute of Arts
• 1928 Albright-Knox Art Gallery
• 1928 Carnegie Institute
• 1928 Corcoran
• 1930 National Arts Club
• 1931 Pan-Am Expo Baltimore
• 1932-60s Whitney Museum of American Art
• 1933 Museum of Modern Art
• 1935 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• 1937 Corcoran
• 1954 Venice Biennale
• 1954 Rhode Island School of Design
• 1954 Currier Gallery
• 1954 Butler AI
• 1962 Philadelphia MA
• 1962 Worcester Museum of Art
• 1963 Arizona Art Gallery
• 1967 Sao Paulo Bienal
• 1979-80 Whitney Museum of American Art Traveling Exhibition, including Detroit Institute of Arts, Milwaukee Art Center, Seattle Art Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
• 2004 Tate Modern
• 2007 Museum of Fine Arts
• 2007-8 National Gallery of Art
• 2009 Bucerius Kunst Forum

V. Memberships

• American Academy of Arts and Letters
• National Institute of Arts and Letters

VI. Notes

1: Levin, Gail. Hopper’s Places. (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1998), p. 151.

2: Morgan, Ann Lee. The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists. (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 229.

3: Leider, Philip. “Vermeer and Hopper,” Art in America 89, no. 3 (2001): p.103.

VII. Suggested Resources

• Hobbs, Robert. Edward Hopper. New York: Harry N. Abrahms, Inc., 1987.

• Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1996.

• Leider, Philip. “Vermeer and Hopper.” Art in America 89 _[3]: 96-103.

• Morgan, Ann Lee. The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

• Taylor, Joshua C. The Fine Arts in America. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago, 1979.

• Wagstaff, Sheena., David Anfam and Brian O’Doherty. Edward Hopper. London: Tate, 2004.

• Wells, Walter. Silent Theater: The Art of Edward Hopper. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2007.