Customer Reviews

Edward Hopper

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No one artist could capture anything as broad as the whole of American experience. If such a catalog were assembled, though, it would have to contain works by Hopper.

The book as produced by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to accompany its 2007 show of Hopper's work. Text, including extensive notes and bibliography, make up a bit more than half of the book. This includes biographical information and analysis. It also contrasts comments on the works when the first appeared, vs. commentary today or just a few years after they appeared.

The artwork, 110 of Hopper's plus 91 supporting works by other artists, really make this book. The cover, 'Chop Suey,' typifies one part of his ouvre. It's a common urban scene, two friends dining in an unpretentious restaurant. One of the women faces directly towards the viewer - it's not the challenge in her gaze that strikes me, but the distance from her dining partner. It's common for people to talk about loneliness in Hopper's work, but I think that's too glib. There are other kinds of solitude and separation, and Hopper distinguishes between many of them.

What Hopper did for the everyday of urban life, he also did for familiar scenes along the Maine and Massachusetts coastlines. Gloucester, Cape Elizabeth, Two Lights - he painted all of them at one time or another. It is enlightening to see his early watercolors and later oils together. They show the progression from fussy rendering of Victorian detail to the monumental, graphic geometries of his later work.

If you're not yet familiar with Hopper's work, you owe it to yourself to learn about his work. Somehow, even seeing it for the first time, you're sure to find something familiar in it.

-- wiredweird

One of the highlights of my summer was attending the Hopper exhibition at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, for which this volume (published by the MFA) was the companion text. At 288 pages, mostly filled with suberb reproductions of Hopper's paintings and sketches, this volume is comprehensive enough for even the most devoted Hopper fan. Perhaps only Gail Levin's "Catalogue Raisonne" offers a more comprehensive look at the artist. No matter how many art books you may own, clear a spot on your shelf or coffee table for this one. You will not be disappointed.

This recent publication of the life and works of Edward Hopper, in connection with an ongoing exhibition of Hopper's works at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston this summer, is one of the finest I've ever seen dedicated to one artist. The chapter presentations by five known experts in the field give us a comprehensive and a more subtle look at Hopper and his influence on twentieth-century American art. As some of the contributors point out, "American" is the operable word as Hopper was quintessentially American and few, if any, match Hopper's mirror of this country from decades past.

Hopper, a true conservative, was influenced nonetheless by French Surrealistic painters and one of the added benefits of this particular book is that there are many representations of works by other artists that had great effect on him. Light was Hopper's main asset and whether he was depicting a lighthouse in Maine or the inside of an apartment in New York, it is the light that catches one's eye first. Yet, for many of Hopper's works, it is also the "chiaroscuro" that counters so well and his most famous painting, "Nighthawks" is but one example. Indeed, an entire chapter is given over to this one painting, often thought (by critics and Hopper, himself) to be his finest.

Reading this book is like attending an art class as every aspect of Hopper's works are discussed....light having already been mentioned, there are also pages devoted to the individuals in his paintings, (never seemingly engaged with one another) the sometimes strange but pleasing geometric angles he presents and his choice of subject material, to name just three others. It came as no surprise to me that Hopper was often at odds with his times. Preferring to paint Victorian houses in the 1920s brought him a certain amount of derision, for instance, while the rage was to paint those "newfangled" skyscrapers and such. And as the century hit midspan, the Jackson Pollocks of the world began to eclipse the older, more sedate Hopper.

The genius of Edward Hopper, of course, is that he has stood the test of time and over that time has become more appreciated and understood. This terrific book goes a long way in explaining the world of Hopper and does much to keep his memory alive. I plan to see the exhibit in Boston this summer and I hope many others will, too. In any event, however, I highly recommend this fascinating book about one of America's exceptional artists for its breadth, honesty and the powerful way in which it is presented.

The book was published on the occasion of the exhibition: "Edward Hopper", organised by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007-2008. It comprises a series of nine essays by different writers, and concludes with Notes, a Chronology, a Checklist and Figure Illustrations and a Selected Bibliography.

This is a handsome volume large in size and almost square in format, illustrated throughout predominately in colour. The informative essays, each dealing with a specific period or genre, discuss the artist, his work and his methods, are illustrated throughout, with the relevant works appearing on or close to the page on which there are discussed. The illustrations are excellent, virtually full colour throughout, the black and white images being mainly drawings or period photographs. Many of the paintings are reproduced half or full page size, with a few full page bleed images of a detail from selected paintings. The quality of reproduction is excellent, often revealing the brush work and surface texture, and the colour rich and vibrant. In total there are 202 illustrations of which 180 are in full colour, they represent works in oils, watercolours and prints. A very desirable publication.

Plenty of catalogs and art histories have featured the works of Edward Hopper, but what makes EDWARD HOPPER different is this emphasis on his strengths from the 1920s-1940s, when he produced many of his greatest works. A focus on European influences, critical reactions to his productions, his themes and choices, and his special challenges makes for detailed insights on the personality and ambitions of Hopper, while full-page color illustrations - some 150 in all - provide visual emphasis. Perfect for art libraries and for public lending collections seeking even one definitive Hopper coverage.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Wonderfully presented book of a great artist. Personal and career information is contained in a nice format. Art is described in the context of the time and the artist - his influences, the influences of the time.

I found the paintings very helpful for the lessons they give about use of value and composition. Both the watercolor and oil paintings give lessons for watercolor painting. Many beginning and intermediate painters fail to achieve good deep dark values in their work. Painters must add value and color paths to create eye movement paths.
Value change gives separation(Depth),colors make it pretty.
Harold D. Smith

Edward HopperThis book is a great presentation of the outstanding Hopper exhibit at the MFA/Boston. Well worth seeing.

A pre-New Deal Republican, the quintaessential American painter, the painter of the Anglo-Saxon mood. I always liked Hopper's style without knowing why. After reading this book -and enjoying its beautifully binding quality, I like him even better.

His uncompromising confidence in his own art, his unbending individualism, his unashamed faith in the Anglo-Saxon quality of America, that which America-haters like to pinpoint most, all make him an icon of Americannes.

He was against the subsidizing trends the Federal Government took under Roosevelt, the Socialist take over of America under the harmless name of New Deal. While the world was doing propaganda (like celebrities do today), he stuck to his gut instinct, his uncompromising art. Should be a heroe of the people against big government today, a heroe who resisted the monopolizing tentacles of the Socialist New Deal. The Republican Party may have betrayed Conservatism, but Hopper sure didn't.

His "rejection of foreign influence and reengagement with American themes" set him aside (and I would say over) the rest of American painters of his time. And he was no flag waver either. He sold his soul to nobody. He was "successful enough in the 30's not to need the help of these federal programs". While writers like Dos Passos were depicting characters as pawns of business, he believed "in a social contract on individual liberties and property." His characters "like the artist himself ... are silent, absorbed in their own thoughts, lost in their own worlds." And that's exactly it: It's THEIR OWN worlds, not the worlds others would have them live in; it's like if you tried to peek into their lives and bumped into a sign that read: 'Don't trespass', or 'Mind your own business', or 'Don't mess with Texas', that I love America for so much.

Hopper's America is dead alright, since Roosevelt's New Deal came at full throttle. But it still glows in the hearts of individual men, and not necessarily they have to be Anglo-Saxon anymore. The world owes America at least that much.