Edward Hopper: American Spaces.

Abstract

Over time, American art changed its focus from the initial fascination with wild landscape to urban culture. On the one pole there are monumental landscapes of Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), and on the other the abstract and conceptual art emanating from contemporary city life. Somewhere in the middle of this transition there is work of an extraordinary artist who managed to capture the very interface between nature and the early modern industrial world. Edward Hopper (1882–1967) was born in Nyack, New York, on the Hudson River (1, 2, 3). He started drawing very early: Whitney Museum of American Art has a fascinating collection of drawings covering his entire career, including the early works (4). He first enrolled into the Correspondence School of Illustrating in New York and then studied at the New York School of Art known as the Chase School, later switching to painting class. In 1906, Hopper went to Paris, where he spent time visiting art exhibitions and paintings. This was the postimpressionist period in France, one of the most dynamic times in the development of art. Cezanne's solo exhibition took place …