The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, recipient of a 1986 bequest of Edward Hopper's entire estate, has recently mounted a show, Edward Hopper: Selections from the Permanent Collection. Not being a retrospective, the works selected by no means give a comprehensive survey of Hooper's oeuvre. The strengths of the show include the dozen or so rarely seen works from his student years; about twenty Paris paintings in his short-lived Post-Impressionistic style; eleven surprising, Matissean nudes drawn at the Whitney Studio Club's evening classes in the early 1920s; and an assortment of other works.
One leaves the show with an enlarged picture of the artist. Hooper's student works evidence that his mood changed little over a half century. They also confirm that every realist's work is rooted in academic practice. But if one leaves with a broader picture of Hopper, it cannot be said that one leaves with an improved opinion of his art.
The rather meager offering is not a fair representation of the artist. The bequest made by Hopper's widow comprised the pictures Hopper either could not sell, or was not interested in selling - student works, studies, failed compositions - all of which were in his studio when he died. It is of these that the show largely consists. In her catalog for the Whitney's comprehensive 1980 retrospective of his works, Gail Levin groups most of the works in the current show under the heading "Transitional Years," denoting their marginal status in his oeuvre. The exceptions are the handful of works the Whitney bought, either directly from Hopper or after his death, and the works the artist gave to his wife as gifts, which she later donated to the museum. In the foreword to the 1980 catalog, director Tom Armstrong noted, "It must be said that the bequest contained few masterpieces, and we must still attempt to acquire examples of the artist's finest achievements.” The current show indicates that the museum has much work yet to be done to fulfill Armstrong's directive.
The fundamental problem with the exhibition is not merely its shortage of masterpieces, but that it consists for the most part of works that antedate Hopper's artistic maturity. Of the seventy-two oils in the show, fifty-eight were executed before 1920, and thirty-six prior to 1910. In the art world, young artists often are ignored even though they are exceedingly talented; in Hooper's case, his late recognition seems justified. His early works are not his best. Nonetheless, though it may seem more an art-historical exercise than a stimulus for aesthetic delectation, an exhibit of these works is instructive in filling out our understanding of the artist's development. Instead of focusing exclusively on the early works, however, the curators, Susan C. Larsen and Deborah Lyons, have appended a thin group of predominantly mediocre later works that does little to balance the picture.
While there are several good canvases from the late 1920s and 1930s - certainly Railroad Crossing Railroad Sunset, and Early Sunday Morning are in that category - there is only one oil from the 1940s, another from the 1950s, and two from the 1960s. Moreover, the preparatory drawings are not juxtaposed with the oils that resulted, depriving the visitor of the pleasure of making the telling comparison with the finished product. A few loans could have made the show truly interesting.
Notwithstanding, there is much to discover here of Hopper's early
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