November 24, 2006
hopper: ironically abstract
There’s been much talk about the moody silences of Hopper’s spaces and the oddly disturbed figures around or in them -- they seem to be living the lives of quiet desperation that Thoreau spoke of. But I suggest that the people are distractions from Hopper’s real concern: buildings. They abound in Hopper’s works, often dwarfing the figures into insignificance -- Night Shadows (1921) is a characteristic example -- or using them as foils to offset structure and space. Buildings are man-made constructions of geometrical space, and as such inherently abstract and autonomous. They have a charismatic quality of their own, independently of the people who use them. Hopper is a kind of Cubist, treating buildings as abstract structures with a life of their own, and often more uncannily alive than the people who use them.
more from Artnet here.
Posted by Morgan Meis at 12:35 PM | Permalink
Comments
Kuspit's theory is not illustrated by the paintings.
"Hopper’s office buildings and domestic housing are hardly what D. W. Winnicott calls life-facilitating environments.'
The paintings don't show that at all. In fact most of the exteriors and interiors are rather attractive and human-scaled. I read the article with growing puzzlement as Kuspits words had so little to do with Hopper's images.
Posted by: David Sucher | Nov 26, 2006 4:01:24 AM
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