A few years ago, my friends and I were sitting in a local restaurant enjoying a libation or two, and as the evening progressed, a print of Edward Hopper became the focal point of our conversation. Out of that discussion, an “unbridled love affair” developed with one of America’s great realistic painters as we discussed the virtues of “The Nighthawks” (1942), a situation not entirely unlike our own. Since that evening, I find myself at the Yale Art Gallery, The Whitney and the Metropolitan Museums in New York City, and other art galleries on countless occasions appreciating, admiring, and sitting in awe of masterpieces created by “mere mortal men.”
My preliminary work has involved several projects, among them visits to regional and local art galleries to photograph and/or to purchase prints for classroom discussions, correspondence to the Chamber of Commerce and to the town historians of Nyack, New York (Hopper’s birthplace) and Truro, Massachusetts (his summer home), and letters requesting background information from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and the Phillip Morris Agency in New York City, both of which sponsored Edward Hopper exhibitions.
The unit will be taught during a timeframe of approximately twelve weeks. The format will involve 10 preselected Hopper prints, each of which will be discussed and analyzed on a weekly basis. The first week will act as an introduction to Hopper and the final week will culminate with our photographic expeditions.