One of my favorite artists is Edward Hopper. In design class, I chose one of his paintings for an assignment in analyzing design elements. During the analysis, I realized the brilliance of the layouts of his paintings and drawings. (On the left is one of his most popular paintings titled "Nighthawks.")
However, he's not the Hopper that I want to share with you. The Hopper I have in mind is Mrs. Edward Hopper AKA Jo Hopper. Since she was also an artist, she was familiar with the intimacy of the artist-model relationship. In her marriage she was having none of that. So, from their 1924 marriage to his death in 1967, she was his only female model.
Why would this matter to Edward's art? Answer: Since Jo was his only model, we can view the female form in its stages of aging. The first image below was completed in 1944 and the other two are from 1954 and 1963, respectively.
What are your observations of Edward paintings of Jo over the 20-year span? Does it seem fair that as an artist he was limited to only one female model for 45 years?
You can definitely see his portrayals of her maturing. I wonder if his art would have been more passionate and less contemplative if he'd had other models. Think Wyeth and the Helga series. Gloria
ReplyDeleteI really do feel that he was cheated by not being able to explore the many facets of other models. One person cannot express all the moods,passions,physical aspects, etc
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I've always found it very interesting to see how creative one can be within severe limitations. Some things that I've done and seen that I liked best were within self-imposed restrictions of subject or palette or materials.
ReplyDeleteI find myself agreeing with all three comments. In school, I had to work within the confines of the assignment and it really made me reach for creative ideas. On the other hand, when we'd have a new model, it was exciting to draw/paint/sculpt a new "landscape." Of course, some models were more interesting than others... perhaps with the limitations imposed, he was really painting scenes from a marriage...RA
ReplyDeleteFrom a wife's point of view, good for her! From the viewer of his art's point of view, a wider variety of models would have been better. Or maybe he could have been the exception; a non-cheating male artist. We'll never know.
ReplyDeleteI did not see that much of an aging process in his paintings,just the suggestion of it in in the pose. Perhaps it is my romantic idea that at times we still see the young person we married all those years ago. A denial of our own aging ?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, interesting how she handled his potential temptation !
I agree that I didn't really see her age much. I don't know if he would've had more interesting and passionate paintings if he would've had another landscape to work with because it seems that his paintings are very serene and contemplating. Although, it always makes artistic inspiration more driven when one has something new to explore.
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It's interesting that she is wearing more clothes as she ages. Does that say something about her modesty or their relationship? He obviously respected her enough to honor her wishes about female models.
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