Edward Hopper (1882–1967)
Study for Nighthawks, 1941 or 1942.
Fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper
11 1/8 x 15 in. (28.3 x 38.1 cm)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Purchase and gift of Josephine N. Hopper by exchange 2011.65
© Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The touring exhibition at the Whitney Museum earlier this year
Hopper Drawing: A Painter’s Process – Dallas Museum The Dallas Museum of Art presents ‘Hopper Drawing: A Painter’s Process’, the first major museum exhibition to focus on the drawings and working process of American artist Edward Hopper. November 17, 2013, through February 16, 2014.]]>
Source: Dallas Museum of Art
The touring exhibition, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, premiered in May to critical acclaim. “The first show to focus on the artist’s drawings as keys to his process, it offers an intimate view of Hopper at work that makes us see this doyen of American painters freshly—no small achievement,” praised the Wall Street Journal. “One of the best Hopper shows ever….See [him] in motion as never before,” maintained the New York Times.
“Hopper Drawing” features more than two hundred works by the artist, including drawings, watercolors, prints, and paintings. The exhibition, on view at the DMA November 17, 2013, through February 16, 2014, is drawn primarily from the Whitney Museum’s unparalleled holdings of the artist’s work and brings together paintings with suites of related drawings, in some cases for the first time.
“‘Hopper Drawing: A Painter’s Process’ reveals a side of the celebrated American artist to audiences that may not be familiar with his draftsmanship,” said Maxwell L. Anderson, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. “Through this presentation, we are able to better understand the gestation of Hopper’s ideas and the transformations they underwent from paper to canvas.”
The exhibition highlights Hopper’s process and the way in which the artist transformed ordinary subjects, from an open road or a bedroom, into extraordinary images. “Hopper Drawing” is based on the research on more than 2,500 works on paper by Hopper in the Whitney collection. These pieces trace the artist’s process of observation, reflection, and invention that was central to the development of his poetic and famously uncanny paintings. The works on view span the artist’s career, from early drawing exercises of his student days to his later paintings, and are concentrated on mid-century works on paper related to his best-known oil paintings. The exhibition is organized into sections to address specific themes, series, and pairs of works. Hopper developed themes in pairs or serially over decades, and understanding these continuities is crucial to enlightening us about Hopper’s approach to the problem of making art.
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Hopper Drawing – Whitney Museum, New York
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