Though most of my blog posts have been about artistic pieces and products that were either not intended to be high art, or are not currently considered such, there are some "serious" artists whose work I enjoy. Among them is Edward Hopper (though even his work is tenuous for some).
Though his style is fascinating, and his paintings reflect a sense of longing and nostalgia that I enjoy, there is another characteristic of his work that I find the most compelling. While paintings of urban landscapes are fairly common, they usually take the form of sweeping panoramas, and dramatic skylines. Hopper's approach is different... Rather than focusing on the city in the aggregate, he focuses on the city in the individual sense. His works are often portraits of the people who make up the city. Hopper's paintings are not faceless renditions of cities from the outside, but are carefully selected vignettes of what happens behind the walls of the urban landscape.
Such is the case with "Nighthawks," his famous image, above. It would have been easy, and perhaps obvious, to paint the same scene as an anonymous view of some compelling architecture, completely aloof to the life within the buildings. However, Hopper responds with X-Ray vision, penetrating through the difficult front of the urban landscape, to the humanity within.
Yet even this analysis, is a bit simplistic. There are other painters who successfully portrayed human vignettes in a downtown setting. For example, below is Norman Rockwell's famous diner picture.
Both Rockwell's image, and Hopper's "Nighthawks" nostalgically portray the insides of restaurants. There is a major thematic difference however. While Hopper paints from the outside looking in, Rockwell simply paints from the inside, looking further in. As a result Rockwell is exploring humanity, and human relationships in general with a little bit of atmosphere to give his characters personality. Hopper, on the other hand, is painting humanity in the context of the urban landscape. The city is not just a setting, it is a character just like the people within his portraits.
It is this balance that makes Hopper's work so compelling. He not only goes beyond the typical urban landscape painting to find the life within, but he then examines the two variables in relationship with each other.
The real question is whether Hopper is painting the relationship between man and city as harmonious or confrontational. The decision is up to the viewer...
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