biography of Edward HOPPER (1882-1967)

Birth place: Nyack, NY

Death place: NYC

Addresses: NYC/summers in South Truro, Provincetown (Cape Cod), MA

Profession: Painter, etcher, illustrator, writer

Studied: Correspondence Sch. Art, NYC, 1899-1900; NY Sch. Art with A. Keller, F. DuMond, R. Henri, W.M. Chase, and K.H. Miller, 1900-06. He traveled to Paris, London, Holland, Berlin, 1906-07; then back in Paris, 1909 and Madrid, 1910. Henri Sch., NYC, 1910; AIC (hon. D.F.A.,1950); Rutgers Univ. (hon. Litt.D., 1953).

Exhibited: Armory Show, 1913; MacDowell Club, 1912-18, 1966 (medal); SIA, first exh., 1917; Chicago SE, 1918-24 (prize, 1923); Penguin Club, NYC, 1919; Whitney Studio Club, 1920-27; NAC, 1920, 1923; Ontario AG, 1920; Brooklyn SE, 1920-25; AIC, 1923 (prize), 1942 (prize), 1945 (prize); Los Angeles Mus. Art, 1921-23 (prize); NAD, 1921-23; AAAL, 1922; PAFA, 1923-25, 1930-66 frequently (gold, 1935); BM, 1923, 1925; CMA, 1923-28; Corcoran biennials, 1923-63 (gold med., 1937, for "Cape Cod Afternoon"); Rehn Gal., NYC, 1924 (1st successful gallery exh.), 1928; NYPL, 1925; Alliance, 1925; Macbeth Gal., 1925; Downtown Gal., NYC, 1927-28; Boston AC, 1926; Cincinnati AM, 1926, 1928; Fogg AM, 1928; PMG, 1928; Wadsworth Atheneum, 1928; PMG, 1928; Detroit AI, 1928; Albright AG, Buffalo, 1928; CI, 1928; Pan-Am. Expo., Baltimore, 1931; BMA, 1931(prize); MoMA 1933 (retrospective); WMAA (formerly Whitney Studio Club), 1932-60s (with major retrospectives in 1950, 1960, also traveling to BMFA and Detroit AI, and in 1964 to Detroit AI, St. Louis AM, and AIC); Venice Biennial, 1952, 1954; RISD, 1954; Currier Gal., 1954; Butler IA, 1954; Hallmark Comp., 1957(prize); St. Botolph's Club, Boston, 1963(prize); Phila. MA, 1962 (with catalogue raisonné); WMA, 1935 (prize),1962; Arizona Art Gal., 1963 (retrospective); S„o Paulo Bienal, 1967; WMAA Traveling Exh., including Detroit AI, Milwaukee AC, SAM, Georgia MA, BMFA (1979-80, retrospective)

Member: Am. Acad. Arts & Letters; NIAL, 1945, 1954 (gold medal); rejected membership in the NAD, 1932.

Work: WMAA (the major repository of Hopper works); PAFA; MoMA; MMA; AIC; AGAA; BM; BMA; CI; Corcoran Gal.; Hirshhorn Mus. Wash., DC; Los Angeles Mus. Art; BMFA; Yale Univ. Art Gal.; and many other major museums in the U.S.; also, British Mus., London

Comments: Preeminent 20th-century American realist painter, noted for his stark compositions and interpretation of the isolation of modern life. After his studies and trips to Europe, Hopper returned in 1910 to his NYC studio. He worked as a commercial artist (his illustrations appeared in Scribner's, Adventure, Farmer's Wife, and on the covers of trade magazines) until the early 1920s by which time success with his etchings enabled him to return full-time to oils. In his etchings and his paintings he continually addressed certain themes for which he became most famous. These include the lone individual sitting or standing in front of an open window ("Eleven A.M.," 1926, Hirshhorn Mus.; "Office in a Small City," 1953, MMA), two or more people grouped together but lost in their own thoughts ("People in the Sun," NMAA), austere coastal scenes, views of solitary buildings, the emptiness of the city in the early morning ("Early Sunday Morning," 1930, WMAA). In all of these, Hopper manages to express or evoke a sense of loneliness and longing. After 1930 Hopper and his wife Jo spent summers in Provincetown (actually, July through early November); also painted in other New England coastal areas, including Monhegan Island, Maine. He went to Santa Fe in the summer of 1925 and was out west again in the 1940s and 1950s; also visited Mexico to see the ancient Zapotec Indian ruins several times.

Sources: WW66; WW47; Lloyd Goodrich, Edward Hopper (NYC: Harry N. Abrams, 1971); Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: The Complete Prints (NYC: Norton & Co. in assoc. with the WMAA, 1979); Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1980); Baigell, Dictionary; Crotty, Provincetown Profiles, 31-35; P & H Samuels, 235; Curtis, Curtis, and Lieberman, 183; Eldredge, et al., Art in New Mexico, 1900-1945, 199; Crotty, 31; Falk, Exh. Record Series.

Legals