Alone with Hopper

The man's the work. Something doesn't come out of nothing.'

                                            -Edward Hopper (1882-1967)

Self Portrait

   The remarkable paintings of Edward Hopper have entered the hearts and lives of millions. Described as the most famous of the "inter-war" artists, his popularity continues to grow. This is in spite of the fact that his images evoke one of the feelings we may fear most: loneliness.

House by the Railroad, 1925

   Around 1920, as he neared the age of forty, Hopper was still largely unknown and is reported to have wondered if his work would ever be recognized. By 1924, his shows were sold out. In 1925, he painted the picture above. Art critics consider it to be his breakthrough piece and the first mature expression of his genius.

Compartment 3, Car 293, 1938

'To me the most important thing is the sense of going on. You know how beautiful things are when you're travelling.' -Edward Hopper

  It's interesting to compare his two portrayals of similar subject matter painted twenty-seven years apart. Furniture design may have changed, but Hopper's ability to paint loneliness was as powerful as ever.

Chair Car, 1965

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Hotel room, 1931

   Hopper often used his wife, Jo Nivison, as his model for his female images. He thought of her as extraordinary in her ability to act any role he sought to paint.

New York Movie, 1939

   I used to spend lots of time in front of an image with similar subject matter that still hangs in the Toledo Museum of Art. The image is called "Two on the Aisle." Beyond loneliness, it seems to capture one of those in-between moments where we live so much of our lives - the movie is about to begin, or the movies has just ended, or there's an intermission. It's the time we all know and usually disregard as unimportant, until along comes a genius like Edward Hopper to paint it into our memory.

Nighthawks, 1942

  Here is the great, popular image, Nighthawks. As the entertaining art critic, Sister Wendy says, "Apparently, there was a period when every college dormitory in the country had on its walls a poster of Hopper's Nighthawks; it had become an icon. It is easy to understand its appeal. This is not just an image of big-city loneliness, but of existential loneliness: the sense that we have (perhaps overwhelmingly in late adolescence) of being on our own in the human condition."

   Hopper died in 1967 as isolated as the subject of one of his paintings, but not forgotten. His wife, Jo, died ten months later.

(background research: "Lives of the Great 20th-Century Artists", by Edward Lucie-Smith)

Paintings by Jan Keeling

Painting in oils and drawing with graphite is how Jan Keeling communicates best  with others who are moved by the visual world around them. After a career editing children’s books, gardening books, novels, and academic papers, as well as painting portraits in watercolor, Keeling decided to devote the greater part of every day to painting in oils. The painting “Punk Rock Girl” has been selected for display in the 2006 Central South Art Exhibition.

To view more work by Jan Keeling, please visit www.jankeeling.com.

Teatime for Hank, by Jan Keeling

  Kate - Window

Balloon