Hoppers in Conversation
For a limited time, the Norton is featuring a special work on loan: Edward Hopper鈥檚 1956 masterpiece Four Lane Road. This oil painting is installed alongside August in the City, the Museum鈥檚 1945 painting by the artist. These works, on view together through April 3, illuminate Hopper鈥檚 distinctive view of modern America, which still makes his work compelling today.
August in the City and Four Lane Road both date from the later part of the artist鈥檚 career when he was widely acknowledged as one of America鈥檚 leading artists. The two paintings depict very different locales: August in the City portrays New York City, while Four Lane Road pictures Cape Cod. These are two of the places Hopper knew the best 鈥� he lived in New York for most of his adult years and summered in Cape Cod almost every year from 1930 until his death in 1967. Like many New Yorkers, Hopper went to Cape Cod to exchange the city鈥檚 crowds and heat for the quiet beauty of the coast. Yet his views of New York and Cape Cod in August in the City and Four Lane Road challenge this conventional understanding of these two places.
These paintings share a compositional element that Hopper experimented with frequently: a building with windows through which intriguing people and furnishings can be seen. In both these works, this structure contrasts with a wooded landscape at left. Indeed, the similarity of the two compositions causes the viewer to question the usual view of New York and Cape Cod as unalike. Furthermore, unlike other modernist paintings of New York that celebrate the city鈥檚 new soaring skyscrapers, August in the City depicts a small section of an apartment building鈥檚 corner turret, which has historical details that complicate the city鈥檚 reputation as archetypally modern. The perspective looking over to Riverside Park also makes this urban scene seem almost rural. The painting鈥檚 sense of tranquility is heightened by Hopper鈥檚 decision to replace the woman he often depicted in such windows with a statue. The painting thus conveys the city鈥檚 own quiet beauty in August, when so many residents had left for the countryside.
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For a limited time, the Norton is featuring a special work on loan: Edward Hopper鈥檚 1956 masterpiece Four Lane Road. This oil painting is installed alongside August in the City, the Museum鈥檚 1945 painting by the artist. These works, on view together through April 3, illuminate Hopper鈥檚 distinctive view of modern America, which still makes his work compelling today.
August in the City and Four Lane Road both date from the later part of the artist鈥檚 career when he was widely acknowledged as one of America鈥檚 leading artists. The two paintings depict very different locales: August in the City portrays New York City, while Four Lane Road pictures Cape Cod. These are two of the places Hopper knew the best 鈥� he lived in New York for most of his adult years and summered in Cape Cod almost every year from 1930 until his death in 1967. Like many New Yorkers, Hopper went to Cape Cod to exchange the city鈥檚 crowds and heat for the quiet beauty of the coast. Yet his views of New York and Cape Cod in August in the City and Four Lane Road challenge this conventional understanding of these two places.
These paintings share a compositional element that Hopper experimented with frequently: a building with windows through which intriguing people and furnishings can be seen. In both these works, this structure contrasts with a wooded landscape at left. Indeed, the similarity of the two compositions causes the viewer to question the usual view of New York and Cape Cod as unalike. Furthermore, unlike other modernist paintings of New York that celebrate the city鈥檚 new soaring skyscrapers, August in the City depicts a small section of an apartment building鈥檚 corner turret, which has historical details that complicate the city鈥檚 reputation as archetypally modern. The perspective looking over to Riverside Park also makes this urban scene seem almost rural. The painting鈥檚 sense of tranquility is heightened by Hopper鈥檚 decision to replace the woman he often depicted in such windows with a statue. The painting thus conveys the city鈥檚 own quiet beauty in August, when so many residents had left for the countryside.
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