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Hopper and the 'Chaos of Ugliness'
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17363 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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1 / 1990 |
2,311 Words |
| Author
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Jason Edward Kaufman
Jason Edward Kaufman is an art historian and critic based in
New York. |
The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, recipient of a 1986 bequest of Edward Hopper's entire estate, has recently mounted a show, Edward Hopper: Selections from the Permanent Collection. Not being a retrospective, the works selected by no means give a comprehensive survey of Hooper's oeuvre. The strengths of the show include the dozen or so rarely seen works from his student years; about twenty Paris paintings in his short-lived Post-Impressionistic style; eleven surprising, Matissean nudes drawn at the Whitney Studio Club's evening classes in the early 1920s; and an assortment of other works.
One leaves the show with an enlarged picture of the artist. Hooper's student works evidence that his mood changed little over a half century. They also confirm that every realist's work is rooted in academic practice. But if one leaves with a broader picture of Hopper, it cannot be said that one leaves with an improved opinion of his art.
The rather meager offering is not a fair representation of the artist. The bequest made by Hopper's widow comprised the pictures Hopper either could not sell, or was not interested in selling - student works, studies, failed compositions - all of which were in his studio when he died. It is of these that the show largely consists. In her catalog for the Whitney's comprehensive 1980 retrospective of his works, Gail Levin groups most of the works in the current show under the heading "Transitional Years," denoting their marginal status in his oeuvre. The exceptions are the handful of works the Whitney bought, either directly from Hopper or after his death, and the works the artist gave to his wife as gifts, which she later donated to the museum. In the foreword to the 1980 catalog, director Tom
... (1994 of 13801 Characters)
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