One is a hot summer picture, and the other is a brisk and windy picture, but Edward
Hopper’s Summertime and New York Pavements are kindred paintings.
Hopper’s Summertime and New York Pavements are kindred paintings.
In New York Pavements a nun/nanny pushes a baby carriage on the sidewalk. A headwind blows her veil back. But for the baby, she is alone. The brush strokes are prompt and efficient. In all but the lightest areas, (the columns, the bottom parts of the building, and the baby’s blanket) the paint is thin. A dark underpainting shows through the top layers to outline and delineate architectural detail. For a Hopper picture, the color is muddy. It seems he mixed most of the color on the canvas as he was painting.
Summertime is a hot picture. This girl here is not a nun. We see through her dress, and get a dose of nipple and upper thigh. She is paused on the front steps of a building. A slight breeze touches her dress, and moves some curtains in a nearby window. She is taking in the sun. She is alone. The paint in summertime is thicker than in New York Pavements. The shapes are cut shapes. The architecture is not defined by draftsman-like underpainting. Instead it is defined by the shapes of color that fit together like puzzle pieces. The paint in this picture feels like heavy slabs heating in the sun.
I waiver in my conclusions about these two paintings. At first, both compositions seem a little awkward, and maybe even a little lacking. They fall a little flat. It seems there are oversights, missed opportunities to show depth, activate space, and create dynamic compositions. But then, the pictures resolve, and feel quite intentional. Maybe there aren’t missteps. Maybe the pictures are purposefully uncomfortable. Maybe, in fact, what makes these pictures work is their cumbersomeness.
The heavy shapes in Summertime push forward, and make the composition feel dense and stuffy. It's stepping outside into a wall of bright sunlight. It’s the suffocation you feel when you can’t get away from the city heat. The slow still of summer in the east.
On cold days in NY the buildings are hulking blocks of concrete, and people are tiny figures, rushing around between them. The brush quality in New York Pavements is hurried. The figure at the bottom barely makes it into this picture. In winter and late fall in NY, you don't stop to linger. You move quickly. You can't get away from the cold. The grubby gray pavements are pervasive. The cold facades offer no relief from the sidewalk's chill.
Now, am I playing with words to countenance my own opinions about Hopper's pictures? A lot in both paintings may just be coincidence, or simply be by dint of Hopper's natural hand. Maybe his concentration was all together on different things. Hopper kept meticulous sketches and notes about many of his paintings, so with some studying perhaps we could come to hypotheses about his intentions. But Theories about painterly intention require more time and thought than I want to dig into here. Still, I’m struck by one thing for sure, these two paintings, like many of Hopper's paintings, are both unashamedly sincere. This type of honesty runs throughout his oeuvre. His subjects are subjects of common ground, and simple human truth. You don't have to be an expert to relate to a Hopper picture. Summer heat. Winter winds. They're pictures of relatable basics. They're easy to look at. Hopper paintings don’t make declarations. They don’t put conditions on the viewer. They don’t tell you how or what to see. And, well, they’re pictures that are very popular.
Hopper often worked with variations on themes. It's great fun to see how he handled similar subjects in different ways. His are perfect entrypoint paintings. They're pretty easy to think through. They exist plainly, and also have considerable artistry. You can choose to enjoy the paintings however you’d like. With both Summertime and New York Pavements, it seems, Hopper earnestly allowed the paintings to take him where they would. We, in turn, can simply go along with him. This is the great zen of his work.
Hopper tended toward depression and was likely a prickly guy. But, his work brings you in gently. This type of care, artist for viewer, takes confidence in feeling, and real know-how. Hopper’s work never hides behind the frivolous. Whether he knew it or not, Hopper gave us truth in simple things. A girl steps out in the summer. A woman faces the wind, and cares for a child. Great masters don’t necessarily need to flaunt their mastery. Let the painting be in earnest, and maybe the rest will fall into place. So, if my thoughts about these two paintings waiver, that may just be my problem. Hopper pictures worked for plenty of folks before I was born, and they will likely continue to do so for a long time.
I waiver in my conclusions about these two paintings. At first, both compositions seem a little awkward, and maybe even a little lacking. They fall a little flat. It seems there are oversights, missed opportunities to show depth, activate space, and create dynamic compositions. But then, the pictures resolve, and feel quite intentional. Maybe there aren’t missteps. Maybe the pictures are purposefully uncomfortable. Maybe, in fact, what makes these pictures work is their cumbersomeness.
The heavy shapes in Summertime push forward, and make the composition feel dense and stuffy. It's stepping outside into a wall of bright sunlight. It’s the suffocation you feel when you can’t get away from the city heat. The slow still of summer in the east.
On cold days in NY the buildings are hulking blocks of concrete, and people are tiny figures, rushing around between them. The brush quality in New York Pavements is hurried. The figure at the bottom barely makes it into this picture. In winter and late fall in NY, you don't stop to linger. You move quickly. You can't get away from the cold. The grubby gray pavements are pervasive. The cold facades offer no relief from the sidewalk's chill.
Now, am I playing with words to countenance my own opinions about Hopper's pictures? A lot in both paintings may just be coincidence, or simply be by dint of Hopper's natural hand. Maybe his concentration was all together on different things. Hopper kept meticulous sketches and notes about many of his paintings, so with some studying perhaps we could come to hypotheses about his intentions. But Theories about painterly intention require more time and thought than I want to dig into here. Still, I’m struck by one thing for sure, these two paintings, like many of Hopper's paintings, are both unashamedly sincere. This type of honesty runs throughout his oeuvre. His subjects are subjects of common ground, and simple human truth. You don't have to be an expert to relate to a Hopper picture. Summer heat. Winter winds. They're pictures of relatable basics. They're easy to look at. Hopper paintings don’t make declarations. They don’t put conditions on the viewer. They don’t tell you how or what to see. And, well, they’re pictures that are very popular.
Hopper often worked with variations on themes. It's great fun to see how he handled similar subjects in different ways. His are perfect entrypoint paintings. They're pretty easy to think through. They exist plainly, and also have considerable artistry. You can choose to enjoy the paintings however you’d like. With both Summertime and New York Pavements, it seems, Hopper earnestly allowed the paintings to take him where they would. We, in turn, can simply go along with him. This is the great zen of his work.
Hopper tended toward depression and was likely a prickly guy. But, his work brings you in gently. This type of care, artist for viewer, takes confidence in feeling, and real know-how. Hopper’s work never hides behind the frivolous. Whether he knew it or not, Hopper gave us truth in simple things. A girl steps out in the summer. A woman faces the wind, and cares for a child. Great masters don’t necessarily need to flaunt their mastery. Let the painting be in earnest, and maybe the rest will fall into place. So, if my thoughts about these two paintings waiver, that may just be my problem. Hopper pictures worked for plenty of folks before I was born, and they will likely continue to do so for a long time.