E. Hopper (1882-1967) : Foremost painter of American realism. Influenced by famed realists such as Goya and Manet; he incorporated their flat colors and feel into his strong geometric forms. His paintings often had a strong feeling of loneliness or emptiness. Nighthawks (1942), his most famous painting, depicts people in a late-night diner. It's an image so powerful that it's entered the pop-culture vocabulary - you've seen this painting.

If you like and/or appreciate solitude, you would agree it is not synonymous with loneliness.

His paintings (a calendar of which I am presently looking at) are about people and places in America he has been.

Often the people are alone, but frequently they seem calm and at peace. Giving them the attribute of loneliness is projection of the viewer.

Critics who knew or studied Hopper do not point to despair as a theme he sought to present.

Nighthawks is often described as:

"that picture at the green diner with those people in it."

Edward Hopper, one of the most popular American artists of the mid-1900's, was best known for his paintings which depicted the isolation of the human condition. Born in Nyack, New York on July 22^nd 1882, he was a contemporary of Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway, and has been called "the poet in paint of loneliness. (Levin, 9).

Hopper began drawing at the age of five and practiced diligently from then onward. In his teens he experimented with oils and water color and became quite adept in several mediums. In the Fall of 1899, he enrolled at the New York School of Illustrating. There, the 17 year old artist studied with aspirations of becoming an illustrator or graphic designer.

The next year, Hopper enrolled at the New York School of Art, a prestigious institute. There he studied under Robert Henri, one of the prominent members of the Ashcan School, and illustrator Arthur Ignatius Keller. Due to his talent, Hopper was asked to stay on for an extended term at the school, and began to instruct others in 1904.

In 1906, he was employed briefly as an illustrator, but then departed for Europe because of his interest in French culture. There he continued his studies under Robert Henri. Although he studied under Henri for six years, Hopper was unable to develop his own unique style, and supported himself through illustration.

In 1918, at the age of thirty-six, Hopper received his first widespread recognition by winning a war poster contest. His entry, Smash the Hun, showed the beginning development of his stylistic traits. Following this success, Hopper opened his first one man exhibit at the Whitney Studio Club. There his oil cityscapes of Paris and landscapes of Monhegan Island, Maine were displayed.

It was not until he was nearly forty that he began to paint scenes featuring desolate cityscapes or those sparsely populated by human forms. The impersonal cities which were featured in many of his paintings, were in striking contrast to the small town of his birth, and utilized a variety of techniques which Hopper would employ throughout his career.

By constructing objects from color, light and shadow, he caused light to appear as though it emanated from an object, as opposed to being cast upon it. This draws the viewer's eye to the desired object and also helps to establish mood. Through the use of geometric forms, such as triangles and trapezoids as opposed to rectangles and squares, Hopper was able to direct the gaze of a viewer and develop the impression of movement.

Also, by having the subject's attention directed toward an activity, an unseen distant object or a seemingly distracted thought, Hopper invited the viewer to imagine the personal experience of the subject.

Throughout his works, Hopper continually drew upon themes that were as important as his stylistic techniques. One of the most prevalent of these was that of transience, and isolation. He frequently painted scenes involving travel: desolate roads, and lonely hotel rooms occupied by pensive individuals.

In contrast to this sense of movement, Hopper's paintings captivate viewers and ask them to imagine the story behind the scene and its characters. As Mark Strand writes, "These two imperatives-the one that urges us to continue and the other that compels us to stay-create a tension that is constant in Hopper's works. (Strand, 3)

Several of Hopper's most famous paintings illustrate his genius. In Cape Cod Evening (1939) , a couple stands before their whitewashed house. The man beckons for a collie, who stands in deep, yellow grass, but the dog does not heed his call, looking away toward the left of the canvas. Against the house, a woman leans with her arms stiffly crossed. Her gaze is directed toward the dog. The lack of interaction between the subjects of the painting gives the impression of the tension between the two, and a mood of isolation. The dog's failure to respond to the call of his owner, gives a mood of foreboding to the scene. In the upper left, a forest looms up, drawing the scene into chaotic darkness.

Hopper painted House by the Railroad, one of his most famous paintings, in 1925. An isolated old house stands before railroad tracks, a dignified victim of progress. The roof and the tracks form an isosceles trapezoid (Strand, 18); this suggests movement to the left of the canvas, from where the light comes. However, the presence of many vertical structures in this house prevents the eye of an observer from being drawn away. Unlike many of Hopper's other paintings, the house exudes a sense of permanence in the face of a temporary world, and a resistance to change.

Foremost among Hopper's paintings is Nighthawks, 1942. This oil painting features a scene set in an all-night diner on a lonely street corner, and embodies both Hopper's use of light and geometry as well as mood. The street is barren and lit by a harsh, cool light cast from the ceiling of the diner. As with House by the Railroad, the eye is drawn right to left, from the diner to the deserted street, not only by the light, but also by the converging edges of the long plate glass window.

Though three patrons are seated inside, two men in fedoras and a red-haired woman contemplating a cigarette, their gazes never meet. The viewer has the perception of being a passerby, only catching a glimpse into the lonely lives of the nighthawk diners, and yet is urged to contemplate their stories.

Rooms by the Sea, 1951, differs subtly from the other buildings painted by Hopper. The light, which streams in from nature, urges the observer into the cozy, well furnished room. The furnishing and the painting on the wall indicate a sense of permanence, which is lacking in many of his other works. Again, geometric forms are used to shape the light, direct attention and create depth.

On May 15, 1967, Edward Hopper died in his New York studio at the age of 85. During his lifetime he was able to craft a unique style which he cultivated through the use of structure and mood. An influential artist whose works provided a glimpse into the human condition, he inspired poets, who wrote of his paintings. Although his scenes were of a specific period, as Levin notes, "Hopper at his best created paintings which express the psychological pulse of their time and yet speak for all time." (Levin, 64)