Realism and Attention to Detail in Edward Hopper's Night Hawks
In the following essay the painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper will be analyzed to determine what messages the artist was trying to convey to the viewer, and the significance of the very detailed depiction of the figures occupying the diner. The realism style of the painting that contributes greatly to the intense effect on the viewer, chosen for this reason, will be explored as well. The somber and lonely mood of the painting will be analyzed as well as the aspects of the empty street and the sparsely populated diner. I will discuss how the painting accurately represents the Great Depression era it was painted to portray, why this specific medium was chosen and how it affects the painting itself.
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” Edward Hopper, a classic realist painter of the twentieth century, had a fascination for light. His plays on the mood of light stretch as a major theme throughout his works, and contribute to the intensifying effect he could inject into seemingly every day scenes. His works took a dramatic appeal through the “eerie stillness's” and lone figures sprinkled throughout his paintings. Although influenced by Edgar Degas and Edouard Maent, Edward Hopper easily added his own personal touches to the beautiful style of realism.1 Born in July of 1882 in New York, Hopper grew up interested in art and encouraged by his parents. After attending both the Correspondence School of Illustrating in New York City and the New York School of Art, Hopper experienced a shift in interest from illustrations to the fine arts1. While studying with the impressionist artist William Merritt Chase and the realistic painter Robert Henri, young Hopper traveled several times to Europe, especially
Images that have the ability to induce physical sensations are often the most sought after. A painter that has the ability to induce these sensations is Jonas Lie, with his painting Dusk on Lower Broadway. The painting Dusk on Lower Broadway is a timely piece that exhibits a diverse mixture of artistic concepts and techniques, using quick short brushstrokes with dark cold colors to create an atmosphere of Dusk on lower Broadway.
"Nighthawks" (1942), a famous painting from Edward Hopper, has been the subject of many poems. Most of the poems attempt to tell the story of the four people painted in the scene. The scene portrays a diner during the night or early morning before the sun comes up, and it is viewed outside on a dark street as someone is looking in. There is nothing threatening about this scene and it suggests there is no danger around the corner; it gives the people in this painting a kind of serenity. The painting is an oil and canvas work and set in the 1930’s or 1940’s. I can tell by the diner’s architecture, clothing, hairstyles and hats of the customers, also by the five-cent cigar sign. This diner looks like it should be
Hopper's work is an unmistakable prologue to American abstract expressionism. The geometrical shadows on the dividers at early afternoon and the nature of the light on the items conjure deliberation. Mark Rothko once said that he never preferred inclining lines in canvases as for their situation they were supported by the light that goes into the spaces. The inclining lines that Rothko alludes to are shadows on the divider made from light, yet past the legitimization is the surface that Hopper accomplishes with his
Diego Rivera was born December 8th, 1886, in Guanajuato, Mexico (1). He first began creating art and murals at the age of three after the death of his twin brother (2). His parents caught him but rather then punishing him for it they instead nurtured his growing creativity by installing canvas and chalkboards on the walls (2). At the age of 10, Rivera went to further his knowledge at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts in Mexico City (1).
On display at the Art Institute of Chicago, Nighthawks is an oil and canvas work that represents Edward Hopper at his most iconic and popular. Hopper more than often drew on his immediate surroundings for in...
ImageAs time passed and society evolved, inviting the manifestation of industrialism into its ranks, so too did the concept and aims of realism. This phenomenon can be witnessed in the works of one of the most quintessential painters of the twentieth century, Edward Hopper, as realism made its way over to the superpower of the new world: America. Hopper's paintings delved into a darker, melancholic exploration of everyday people in their established environments. His most famous work Nighthawks (1942) includes both a common feature of American life (in this case, a diner) as a primary source of his subject matter, as well as his deeply explored theme of loneliness and detached isolation.
Willie Cole was born on January 3, 1955 in Newark,New Jersey where he also grew up. He attended the Boston University School of Fine Arts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1976, and he didn't stop there.He then went on to study at the Art Students League of New York.Willie Cole has been very successful in his artistic ideas ever since.
Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the rectory of Zundert in Barbant (Burra). His father was a soft-spoken Dutch clergyman. The only thing Van Gogh got from his father, was the desire to be involved in the family church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer’s assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had been working for some time. Three of his father’s brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most distinguished of his uncles, who was manager of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil Galleries (Meier-Graefe). His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to take him ...
It appears to me that pictures have been over-valued; held up by a blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as standards by which nature is to be judged rather than the reverse; and this false estimate has been sanctioned by the extravagant epithets that have been applied to painters, and "the divine," "the inspired," and so forth. Yet in reality, what are the most sublime productions of the pencil but selections of some of the forms of nature, and copies of a few of her evanescent effects, and this is the result, not of inspiration, but of long and patient study, under the instruction of much good sense…
Painted by Vincent Van Gogh during a final burst of activity in Auvers before his suicide in July, Houses at Auvers features many of the characteristic elements typical of Van Gogh; the experimentation with color, texture, and thick brush strokes. This painting depicts the view and landscape in early summer, highlighting the patchwork of houses and the rolling greenery. Van Gogh’s unique, thick brush strokes lead the eyes through the painting, create texture and patterns and also highlight and shadow objects in the early summer sun, while his experimentation with color creates contrast and a bright, vibrant image.
Overall, the painting “Nightlife” was one of the few paintings that were celebrated to Archibald Motley. Coming from an African American culture, Motley wanted to capture the warmth and richness belonging to their culture. In this painting, we truly discover the heightened tensions felt during that time by the intricate patterns and skeptic perspectives Motley presents. However, by including warm tones such as red and violet, we get the feel of the liveliness and carelessness of the Negro culture through music. We understand that music such as jazz was an escape from everyday racism. Motley successfully executed a painting that sends a message and makes the person wonder the motives for his selections.
Vincent Van Gogh was born on the 30th of March 1853, in the small village of Zundert; in the south of the Netherlands. He was the oldest of six children born to Theodorus Van Gogh and Cornelia Carbentus. He began his education in 1861, at the village school in Zundert; he would subsequently attend two boarding schools. Van Gogh excelled in language learning French, English, and German. During that time he also began drawing. Vincent for the most part educated himself. In March 1868, he ends his formal education and begins an apprenticeship with Goupil and Cle. (Fine Art Web)
The French 1884 oil on canvas painting The Song of the Lark by Jules-Adolphe Breton draws grasps a viewer’s attention. It draws an observer in by its intense but subtle subject matter and by the luminous sun in the background. Without the incandescent sun and the thoughtful look of the young woman, it would just be a bland earth-toned farm landscape. However, Breton understood what to add to his painting in order to give it drama that would instantly grab an onlooker’s interest.
The artistic stylization used by early 20th century artists endeavors a distinctive approach in the depiction of the Great Depression in both methodology and aesthetic portrayal. Philip Evergood’s Dance Marathon (c. 1931) and Reginald Marsh’s Chatham Square (c. 1931), which both are exhibited at the Blanton Museum of Art, are artistic representations of the American culture during the “Dirty Thirties”. Although both paintings were created during the same time period and ultimately share the thematic downheartedness of the decade, Evergood and Marsh cultivate their own independent approach in constructing their individual artworks. Marsh focuses his piece on the basis of composition, detail, saturations and highlights to construe a melancholic
Few paintings capture my imagination quite like Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. From the first time I ever saw it I was captivated by the seductive swirls of light in the sky and sleepy town in the distance. Like many college students in the early 2000s I had this poster framed on my dorm room wall along with another famous piece by Van Gogh called Café Terrace at Night.