Published by Taschen, 1995, softcover, illustrated, 200 pages, 24.2 cms x 30 cms, condition: as new. I love 1940s and 50s film noir, and I love the dreamy paintings of Edward Hopper, which often resemble these films, but in vivid Technicolor. The guy who created those film noir paintings of lonely, distant people contemplating in the middle of the big city, is how I quickly describe his work to a bemused face. It usually does the trick. Somehow, he even manages to make characters lonely and departed even when theyre actually with someone. And yet hes so much more. A true original who ignored the current trends from the mid-twenties through to the mid-sixties, and who I truly think painted from his soul to influence painters, illustrators, film makers and writers alike the world over.
The writer, Ivo Kranzfelder, places Hoppers oeuvre within art in general and breaks his chapters up into themes rather than following a chronology. He writes of his life and art in general both of which underwent little change and variation in the last forty years of his life. He kept to an annual and a daily routine in life, and his paintings used the same recurring themes and use of light. I would say that its fortunate for us that he was a rare and awkward interviewee, and so the mystery and aura of his paintings remains intact. When he did speak, it was to make general statements like, Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world. Or hell say that he was a painter of light. But though his paintings begged many a question, he would never be so clear as to state what is going on, or elucidate anything on the characters. Thats for you, the viewer, to interpret. You can write essays and short stories on any one of Hoppers paintings (it has been done), for they often feel like atmospheric character stories, key moments captured in oil.
Hes given the term realist, which only serves to distinguish him from the underlying trend, for its very much Hoppers version of reality. The lack of detail in his figures gives them a ghostly appeal, and they often stand in streets or sit in rooms contemplating - devoid of garbage and many of the details that inhabit the real world. There is very much the quality of the dream to many of his works. Ivo Kranzfelder in fact uses the phrase at one point, Hoppers pictures truly seem to be located in a twilight zone. Which I dont think he was using only to refer to the light. Though separated by a hundred years and different styles, there are similarities between Edward Hopper and another of my other favourite painters, the German romantic Caspar David Friedrich. Both were painters of light and the contemplative soul, with the visuals reflecting the nature of what lie within that soul. The unsmiling meditative souls in Hoppers paintings could so easily be the painter himself. The text is clear, concise and informative. The reproductions of the paintings, drawings and etchings are generally large and vividly reproduced on fine paper.
