Book Description

More than any other artist, Edward Hopper (1882-1967) made the unique visual landscape of the American city his own. In his works, all-night diners, motel rooms, and deserted, after-hours offices are sparsely populated with isolated, brooding figures. While never directly narrative, his restrained and carefully handled oils and watercolors have a timeless, universal quality that has long struck a chord with a huge international audience.

From paintings made in Paris in the early 1900s to iconic views of Manhattan created more than 60 years later, this book examines Hopper's work in the context of both American and European painting from the turn of the 20th century to the 1960s. The influence that film and other forms of popular culture had on Hopper is explored here for the first time. Published to accompany a major retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern in London, this stunning book is the definitive work on this quintessentially American artist. AUTHOR BIO: Sheena Wagstaff is director of exhibitions at Tate Modern, London. Peter Wollen is professor of film, television, and digital media at UCLA and a filmmaker, critic, and scholar. David Anfam has published widely on American art. Brian O'Doherty is an artist and critic and the author of American Masters: The Voice and the Myth in Modern Art. Margaret Iverson is professor in the department of art history and theory at the University of Essex, England. ... Read more

Book Description

The complete watercolors of arguably America's best and probably America's most "American" artist. This magnificent volume reproduces all of Hopper's 357 watercolor paintings. They were first published in the four-volume catalogue raisonne of the artist's works. Now they are offered at a price that will make them attractive to anyone seriously interested in art. Hopper was comfortable in both oil and watercolor, although his technique with each medium varied considerably. While oils were done in the studio, often from detailed sketches with notations on colors, the watercolors were painted on location and seem far more spontaneous. In the years since Hopper's death in 1967, many of his paintings have achieved iconographic status as statements about this country. His empty cityscapes and countrysides speak of our sense of loneliness and alienation, while his fascination with the light on Cape Cod and the buildings in Gloucester result in the evocation of feelings that can only be described as uniquely American. 350 color plates, with notes and annotations by Gail Levin. Published in association with the Whitney Museum of Art. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

There's nothing like seeing them all together
This would be a 5 star book if the reproductions were just a bit larger, but it's a small complaint. If you like Hopper you will enjoy discovering works you've never seen before. If you're a painter too, you'll like the format: 1 page of introductory text and nothing but reproductions after that! Lots of people are familiar with Hopper's quote "All I ever wanted to paint was sunlight on the side of a house." This is the book that makes you understand what he meant: his mostly on-sight watercolors have a sun drenched quality that his oils didn't catch as often, good as they are. Hard to imagine anyone being disappointed by this book.

A feast for Hopper watercolor lovers!
It is exactly what it claims: a"catalog" of all Hopper watercolors, with short notes about each work from the artists' notebook. I appreciate the compact, easy to handle size, and the clean design, yet wish for larger reproductions.(Which explains the 4-star rating.) I was delighted to see many watercolors for the first time. If you are disapointed by the lack of text, get Virginia Mecklenburgs' book on Hopper watercolors...it's as "easy" and wonderful to read as this book is to look at. I look forward to owning the companion, The Complete Paintings of Edward Hopper. ... Read more

Book Description

The first major work on the exquisite watercolors of America's foremost and most popular realist painter. Edward Hopper has been celebrated for over half a century as America's most eloquent realist artist. His best known oils, such as Nighthawks, Early Sunday Morning, and House by a Railroad, are powerful psychological statements that convey a sense of angst and alienation. Yet there is another Hopper we know less well: the freer, more spontaneous spirit that emerges in his watercolors. In 1923 he spent a summer in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and began painting houses, landscapes, and fishing boats. In them he captures remnants of nineteenth-century America that for him symbolized the fundamental character of the country's people and places, and prompted him to reexamine his views about the relationship between the past and the modern. Over the next two decades, Hopper painted hundreds of watercolors, in Gloucester, the coast of Maine, New Mexico, and Cape Cod. This beautiful book reproduces and examines over one hundred of Hopper's greatest watercolors in the context of his life and travels. It is an indispensable book for anyone interested in American art. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Excellent Addition to Anyone's Collection!
When I read a book on a specific artist, I approach it from three different angles. I am an artist first and foremost, a graphic designer by profession, and employed by a library. This book ranks five stars in all three categories. It's usually pretty easy to find an art book with really good color reproductions or with really good text, but to find one such as this with both is a true find. The author's insightful and intelligent writing combined with the wonderful color reproductions really puts you right in Edward Hoppers world. It's also what makes this book an excellent addition to anyones collection! ... Read more

Book Description

This sumptuous book presents the full range of Edward Hopper's work and offers greater access to Hopper, the man, than any other single volume. This book goes beyond the standard evaluations of the man and his work to reveal a complex man, introspective and intellectual yet romantic, and to illuminate the many levels of meaning in the paintings of his maturity. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Realy good photos of E.H. work
I found this book to be useful as a art student ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Appealing format, great plates
The long format of this book allows for good reproduction of many of Hopper's landscapes. I have several Hopper books, but this one is by far the most comprehensive and most beautifully printed. This is a wonderful gift for anyone who loves Hopper's work, or for your own art library.

Expression of American Monotonous Suburban Life
I came across Hopper's paintings, when I was doing reproductions of famous artists as my partial work in high school. They immediately caught my attention and excitement, as they had an odd quality, which no other painters had in their work. Vast spaces, empty streets, newly-woke-up ladies in old-fashion motel rooms, extreme light conditions that contradicted the monotonousness in some way... These are some of the major images one is apt to see in Hopper's works.

Hopper's paintings seem to depict the 20s-40s of America, in the context of local towns, cafes, old rooms, within the frame of realism. He's usually painted his figures in an alignment, that does not let us see their faces nor fronts. Instead, the sun has the right to see them, which casts bright light rays into dark rooms.

I think that Hopper seems to be content with the way of living in America, and how people of it carry on their lives. The paintings may indicate some not-so-happy situations, but they do not depict depression. Therefore, I think that Hopper is the best representative of American culture in the early twentieth century in that sense.

I haven't purchased the book yet; but had a chance to look at it in the school's library. The book contains many of his paintings, and Goodrich's comments show some level of apprehension and knowledge of Hopper's work. It is concise and comprehensive, and I recommend it to everybody. Hopper is certainly one of the most affective artists of the twentieth century and all times.

Comprehensive in scope, accurate in plates.
Most comprehensive single volume regarding Hopper and his work, that I am aware of, and the reprints of the work are accurate and true to the originals. A significant book about a significant painter. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Ambiguity
Edward Hopper was called a bad painter by noted critic Clement Greenberg. Europeans see Hopper as American due to his subject matter. Hopper reveals the fractures beneath the scenes. The ambiguous quality has a dimension of aesthetic openness.

Hopper's nearly over-determined realism shades into fantasy. The author speaks of the conflict in many of the paintings of energy and inertia. Hopper's life was quiet and orderly. He was nurtured by the European tradition. He later perfected a technique of contrast contouring.

Hopper wrote admiringly of the Ohio artist Charles Burchfield. Hopper showed a meticulous use of detail in his paintings. The book contains much intelligent discussion of the artist, beautiful illustrations, and a detailed chronology.

A GOOD INTRODUCTION TO THE ARTIST
EDWARD HOPPER'S world of lonelyless is like a mirror of AMERICA 's rural world and also an alienation of city life.There is a real unity in the artist's vision and the way he has chosen to celebrate the people he loved is both moving and haunting.Who can forget those visions of a secretary sitting on the desk and waiting for the boss, and those people in the sun just lying there ,and finally those two women in the restaurant?HOPPER is an artist that really gets to you in a most depressing way.As an introduction to his work, this book is interesting ... Read more

Book Description

Realistic depictions of everyday urban scenes and stark landscapes (done originally in crayon, charcoal, pencil and other mostly monochromatic media) depict Manhattan streets, a lighthouse on the Atlantic seacoast, the rural Northeast and more.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very excellent work
I own a lot of Dover art series books. They are excellent books for beginning artists in that they show how the old masters did their early works using different media. Much can be learned from the Dover art books in the use of subject, form, and shading. The Hopper Drawings is one of my favorite Dover art books. Most of the drawings in this book have been made using the Conte crayon. I prefer the Conte crayon over charcoal. It is very sleek, clean, and smooth. The drawings show how masterful Hopper is with the Conte crayon and much can learned by studying his drawings. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Two Comedians In Love - Edward and Josephine Hopper
Gail Levin's book -Edward Hopper:an Intimate Biography- is about the life of a famous artist, Edward Hopper, as well as that of an obscure artist, Josephine Hopper (the former Josephine Nivison).Mrs. Hopper's detailed diaries, kept up faithfully for decades, are a major source of information for Levin's book. Since this necessarily puts the perspective of the book heavily on Jo's side of the story, no one should consider this one-stop shopping for finding out what made Edward Hopper tick.The Hoppers were a two completely opposite personalities who both complemented and aggravated each other.What I most like about Levin's book is that probably no one else has ever been in Jo Hopper's corner before Levin.Jo usually comes off as the stereotypical shrewish wife who dominated her poor henpecked husband.What a different picture is presented in this book!Instead, their marriage was much more complex, and the love/hate dynamics never seem to have leveled off during the many years they were together.Their story defies my own stereotypcial notion that as people grow old, their emotions level off and they are like two old bookends.Not with these two!I also enjoyed finding out that Edward Hopper was a Bette Davis fan, that he liked Jo to wear her hair down, that Jo's idea of cooking was opening up cans, and that Hopper had to haul buckets of coal up from the basement to feed the coal stove that heated their studio/living quarters.Much of these intimate details are provided courtesy of Jo's diaries, which served as an outlet and a refuge from her stolid husband. Perhaps best of all is the theatricality and eroticism suggested by Jo's descriptions of how they worked together as she posed for many of his paintings.In one of Edward Hopper's last paintings, Two Comedians, he portrays two shy actors taking a little bow:a loving tribute to their long and histrionic collaboration together, in life and in art.

An interesting glimpse into the life of an American artist.
Gail Levin's biography is a thorough review of Edward Hopper's life and work, spanning his early childhood, his struggles as an artist paying the bills by illustrating for magazines, his success, and his consistently remarkable artistic output. The surprise for me came from the revelation that his wife Jo, usually a marginal and minor figure, was a remarkable woman and an artist herself. Although one is tempted to wonder how her career would have gone if she hadn't married Hopper, Levin avoids sensationalistic speculation and, aside from occasional comments, sticks strictly to the facts.

Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography
While the book was interesting it was also redundant of some of Ms. Levin's other works.Unfortunately, I believe she got at least one fact messed up, which, of course is curious, and, makes one wonder if anyone is doing any editing out there. At 45 bucks a pop, you'd think someone would be doing some fact checking.I believe I'm correct in pointing out that Christian Hopper was Edward Hopper's grandfather, not great-grandfather as she so states. His father was Garrett Henry Hopper. His father was Christian Hopper.Christian Hopper married Charity Blauvelt, and together they had Garrett Henry Hopper, who, together with Elizabeth Smith Hopper, had Edward Hopper. I thought some of the events like Jo's trying to get the car out of the garage were a riot, not to mention hearing about her cat, Arthur.Unfortunately, Arthur disappears about midway. Leaves you wondering if she named him after Chester A. Arthur, Arthur Godfrey, etc.He had an odd sense of humor, but he was Dutch and you know how they are. Not too abnormal, tho. Your typical stingy, grumpy man who hasn't a clue about women. Other than that, it was a good read.

A very telling biography
Gail Levin, the curator of Hopper's works at the Whitney Museum in New York City, had the exclusive privilege of Josephine (Mrs.) Hopper's journals that extend from the 1920s to the 1960s.Jo was an artist herselfand her frustrations are paralled with Edward's successes.Maybe too muchof the book is about poor Mrs. Hopper and her unsuportive Husband, butLevin crafts the history so well that I didn't hold it against her.Eachof the major oil paintings are covered from a making-of perspective which Ifound illuminating.I picked the book up originally just to glance throughit, but I ultimately read the whole thing. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Solid
I am neither a poet, nor a visual artist, so I will provide for you the layman's review: I find this book to be a charming text, based on a very good idea (ask writers to create poetry inspired by the Hopper paintings reproduced herein). Like all books of poetry, I'm quite sure that - like me - you will find that some of the poetry speaks to you, and some of it does not, but you will find all of it to be of a very high quality. Likewise, one of the aspects I enjoy most about this book is the quality of the reproductions, which, perhaps because of the book's rather small physical size, shows off the richness and clarity of Hopper's work better than most other books that present his oils. I have given this book as a gift twice now, and the recipients have been very impressed... ... Read more

Book Description

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is generally considered the majortwentieth-century realist. Such paintings as House by the Railroad, EarlySunday Morning, and Nighthawks seem to embody the loneliness of theindividual in the cities and open spaces of America. Hopper stronglyinfluenced contemporary American art, and there are countless photographsand films inspired by his work. The forty paintings in this volume give arepresentative overview of Hopper's art. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

one of the most imporant painters of the 20th century
I think that E. Hopper is one of the most imporant painters of 20th century. I was fanscinated at the works embodying human's solitude. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent
This is a wonderful glimpse into the development of Hopper's paintings. It appears to be a photocopy of Hopper's working journals, which were assembled and maintained by his wife Jo over a period of 30+ years. Jo wrote the text and Edward drew a thumbnail sketch for the paintings. For many of the paintings, the text includes the brand of paint (e.g., Rembrandt, Blockx, W&N), the type of canvas and the priming, the studio in which it was painted, and to whom it was sold. Jo frequently included a description of the place, the people, or the mood portrayed in the paintings.

If you're an artist or a serious Hopper fan, you'll enjoy this book.

Incorrect synopsis information
The synopsis for this title is incorrect. The text refers to the title "The Poetry of Solitute". THIS publication is a facsimile of Hopper's record keeping journals. It includes mostly thumbnail drawings, paint recipes and sales information for many of his works. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An easy start to appreciate Hopper's work.
This book is quite easy to read while sometimes it's not easy to enjoy the pleasure of an art work. Edward Hopper, an icon of the realistic painter of the U.S.. Solitude, isolation and alienation are common emergence in many Hopper's work. It's like reading a novel of metaphor leaving "readers" a huge space to imagine the context of the painting. The book provides a lot of clues for us to step into the "Literatural world" of Hopper. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"Eerie silence, desolate houses, and blank-eyed individuals with frozen faces, stunned and fixed in time. Cold sunlight from some mysterious, otherworldly source. Unmoving bodies drained of passion and lonely people staring nowhere," writes author Justin Spring on the first page of this pocket-sized guide to one of America's favorite realist painters. "Welcome to Hopper's world."

Hopper's landscapes and interiors have affected everyone from noir film directors to the abstract expressionists. His paintings conveying the loneliness of contemporary life were painfully apt in the 1930s during the Great Depression--and they are still meaningful today. This book, one of the Essentials series of art books that offer the reader a quick and easy grounding in the work of a single artist, is also a surprisingly deep work thanks to the author. Spring can take a marriage like Edward and Jo Hopper's, which other writers have viewed as monumentally dysfunctional, and find what was good and enduring in it. He has a perfect grasp of Hopper's beauty as well as his strangeness, his voyeurism and his insistence on privacy, his asceticism, his love of culture, and his wanderlust. Spring also gives readers telling glimpses of scores of famous paintings, such as Nighthawks and A Woman in the Sun. Quoting Jo's note about the latter: "Cigarette and sad face of woman unlit." This is an excellent introduction to the art and the artist. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Reviews (2)

small, yet informative...
... but more about the artist and less about the art.Basically the abbreviated "Cliff's Notes" version of who Edward Hopper was and what constituted his work.The pictures are tiny and do little justice tothe incredible artist that he was.If you want an introduction to theartist and his work, this book is sufficient, but not highly recommended. If you truly want to "know" Edward Hopper, check out any numberof books by the current foremost authority on Hopper, Gail Levin, or anylarger scale reproduction catalog of his work.

A little book with a lot of Hopper
Pocket-sized introduction to Edward Hopper from Abrams via Andrews McMeel Publishing, one of a series that includes Dali, Pollock, Van Gogh & others. Features a fine biographical essay by Justin Spring plus manyillustrations, critiques & sidebar notes. The size of this bookprobably consigns it to the gift item category for someone you know whoowns a coffee table collection of Hopper's works or who just enjoys artsypresents, which is unfortunate. A version of this book with larger printswould be quite good.

Bob Rixon ... Read more

Reviews (1)

If it's all you can find
This work is of medium value. The collection of reproductions is good, both in terms of the amount of them, as well as their quality. Certainly it's nothing overly-impressive, but it is a fine collection.

The problem lies more in the commentary. Renner spends a great deal of time on "re-codings" in Hooper's work, leading to many...interesting conclusions. As one reads along, one gets the impression that Hooper himself didn't have a great deal to say (espeically compared to artists, like Dali, who can't shut up), so Renner instead fills the space with what lamentably passes for art criticism these days (mostly of the postmodern and psychologizing variety). I wasn't terribly impressed.

Everything considered, you would be better served by another Hooper book from Taschen, this one written by Ivo Kranzfelder. Kranzfelder takes much greater care to deal with the little amount Hopper said, and (while the current style does occur to an extent) the commentary tends to be much more lucid as regards Hopper's works. Additionally, that volume has a much larger and better variety of Hopper's works than Renner's.

That being said, if one cannot get a hold on Kranzfelder's book, or does not want to spend the extra money for it, Renner's work is acceptable. The commentary isn't swell, but it is still passable. ... Read more

Book Description

A remarkable collection of Edward Hopper's most important paintings and original stories and poems by prominent contemporary writers. This volume includes fifty-nine of Hopper's most important works in full color, as well as original works by thirteen renowned fiction writers and poets that pay homage to, or make reference to, the ways in which Hopper pictured our world. The contributors include Paul Auster, Anne Beattie, Tess Gallagher, Thom Gunn, John Hollander, William Kennedy, Galway Kinnell, Ann Lauterbach, Norman Mailer, Leonard Michaels, Walter Mosley, Grace Paley, and James Salter. Also featured is an essay by art historian Dr. Gail Levin. Hopper's themes of alienation and loneliness, empty cityscapes and countrysides, the stark light of Cape Cod, silent hills and housesall have been indelibly imprinted on our collective sense of ourselves and our country. This work celebrates the impact Hopper's imagery continues to have on contemporary culture and is dedicated to a fuller understanding of Hopper's place in the American mind. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

It was well-written with excellent discription,and . . .
I believe that this was one of the greatest art books. This outstanding book displayed 59 of Hopper's greatest paintings with awesome detail and spectacular quotes. It not only showed the different ways Hopper defined and looked at life, but I could feel like I was the artist. Not only did the paintings create a perspective of life most people don't look at, but I could relate to his points of view. ... Read more

Book Description

Edward Hopper - The loneliness of big-city people

Edward Hopper (1882 - 1967) is considered the first significant American painter in twentieth-century art. After decades of patient work, Hopper enjoyed a success and popularity that since the 1950s have continually grown.

Living in a secluded country house with his wife Josephine, he depicted the loneliness of big-city people in canvas after canvas. Probably the most famous of them, Nighthawks, done in 1942, shows a couple seated quietly, as if turned inwards upon themselves, in the harsh artificial light of an all-night restaurant. Many of Hopper's pictures represent views of streets and roads, rooftops, abandoned houses, depicted in brilliant light that strangely belies the melancholy mood of the scenes.

Edward Hopper's paintings are marked by striking juxta-positions of color, and by the clear contours with which the figures are demarcated from their surroundings. His extremely precise focus on the theme of modern men and women in the natural and man-made environment sometimes lends his pictures a mood of eerie disquiet. In House by the Railroad, a harsh interplay of light and shadow makes the abandoned building seem veritably threatening. On the other hand, Hopper's renderings of rocky landscapes in warm brown hues, or his depictions of the seacoast, exude an unusual tranquillity that reveals another, more optimistic side of his character. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

IT'S A HOPPER!
I have read the FRENCH translation of this book,and i enjoyed it,even if the approach often is on the intellectual side.No AMERICAN art in the first half of the previous century gets near that man, who visualized his country with a personnal perception.The paintings of HOPPER often gets to you in their quest of lonelyness.PEOPLE IN THE SUN for instance is fascinating.The most interesting aspectabout HOPPER,is that his paintings are about the persistance of vision;the way one can try to read his mind.

If you are interested in Hopper, DO NOT miss this book!
This is one of the most intelligent and interesting books on Hopper I've read. And I have a good-sized collection of books on this American artist because he's my favorite.

Not only are there rarer paintings and etchings in here not often included in coffee table books on Hopper, but author Kranzfelder shows his influence on photography, and shows the influence of other artists (notably Degas) on Hopper. Kranzfelder puts paintings and photos on one page, and the particular example of Hopper's work on the other so you can see the comparison side by side.

The text is also interesting and full of rare facts and a good analysis as well. If you want a great book about Hopper's work, this is one of the best I have seen. HIGHLY recommended.

Excellent summary of Edward Hopper's life and art
Affordably priced and well written.

Must read for any admirer of Edward Hopper's work. ... Read more