The Whitney Museum in New York City says it has never been done before and judging by the crowds during the second week of the exhibition the public has been waiting for just such an event.

The subject is the American painter Edward Hopper(1882-1967) and his many views of New York City, the city where he lived most of his life, searched for most of his subject matter, and did most of his work. The New York collection shows Hopper’s ability to focus on the small detail of an overwhelming city and explains how he went about cataloguing, researching and sketching those scenes before committing them to canvas. The work is all about New York. Hopper’s other subject matter is deliberately left out.

Many art museums have one or two Hopper paintings and for many patrons they are among the most recognizable pieces. The exhibition at the Whitney(October 19, 2022 - March 5, 2023) occupies almost an entire floor of the museum and presents a full portrait of Hopper’s career, from his time as a magazine illustrator to the work that made him influential in the worlds of painting, photography and film. While other artists of his generation moved their work toward abstraction, Hopper remained devoted to soft realism with an emphasis on light, shadow, color, and the observation of simple often private moments and gestures.

I am not an art critic or an art expert, but I have always been attracted to the work of Hopper because of its familiarity. Many of his paintings call attention to the details I notice when I take in a scene. Mainly light and shadow. The shape of light is a defining characteristic of his most well-known paintings. It is usually a morning light funneled through a large window, a door way, or a small crack. If not morning light it’s 4p.m. or dusk or the electric light of mid-century America. If the scene is outdoors, the light is shaped by trees or surrounding buildings. He is not afraid to use black to direct us to the detail he finds important.

After taking in the show at the Whitney, a writer for The New Yorker described Hopper’s perception of New York as lonely. Most of the works making up the exhibit include just a single human figure, or two, or three. They are often looking into the light. They seem alone in their thoughts. Many of Hopper’s characters seem troubled. Why are they alone in a city filled with so many other people?

There is something else about the people in Hopper’s paintings that has always attracted my curiosity. Both the men and women, but mostly the women, have a sensuality about them. The women are often dressed in ways that suggest their clothing could be easily removed with the release of one button. In many paintings the women are not dressed at all. In the paintings featuring one man and one woman there is often either sexual tension or confrontational tension. Like scenes from a modern movie, the interaction could easily go one way or in the exact opposite direction in a moment. Since it’s a painting, there is no way to know the outcome.

For many years I was embarrassed to share my attraction to Hopper paintings. His images are so simple and familiar I was self-conscious about how others might judge my artistic taste. It doesn’t help that many of his paintings, like Nighthawks(1942) have been the subject of parody, that many of his works have been licensed to be printed on all manner of common objects, and that Hopper’s attraction to entertainers as subject matter means some of his paintings include clowns.

But I have come to the conclusion that my appreciation for his work has more to do with its relevance to photography and film, the dominant sources of imagery in my lifetime. Hopper paintings provide the visual context for the work of many documentary and landscape photographers and film makers trying to create the mood of a period in time. There is a trend in street photography toward cinematic filtering of images. In many ways, Hopper’s treatment of light and shadow offered a pathway toward the look that has come to be known as cinematic.

Apart from the collection of recognizable Hopper masterworks at the Whitney, several rooms are devoted to exploring the artist’s career path and his work process. Like a modern street photographer, he often walked the streets of New York looking for the interesting detail, the window that offered a view into some inner hidden life story, and the light that would define the scene. He would sketch the scenes using pad and pencil and then work the sketch further until he had an outline or blueprint for a final painting. Unlike the abstract expressionists who were gaining more attention during his lifetime, Hopper meticulously planned his works. Diagramed them and filled in the detail.

Hopper is also known for his images of Cape Cod, where he and his wife spent many summers. Both the New York paintings and his Cape Cod works capture a vernacular that still exists today. The repetition is timeless. Hopper’s scenes are clearly dated mostly by fashion, but the New York he captured, lived in and worked in still remains just outside the windows of the Whitney Museum and the neighborhoods he once strolled in search of a scene.

Hopper's New York