Edward Hopper, el pintor del confinamiento

 

Isolation was a persistent theme in Hopper’s art and life. Was he dogged by isolation or did he pursue it? ‘Did anybody really know this silent, non-communicative man?’ asked Raphael Soyer in a 1981 interview, 14 years after Hopper’s death. His friends recollected a cynical and taciturn artist, self-doubting, introspective and distrustful of fame. But before Hopper became the painter of lonely figures in all-night diners, he was the illustrator of raucous party scenes and smiling couples waltzing together at summer fêtes.

 

 

“In the year 2020, more than half a century after Edward Hopper died, social media has christened his paintings as the quintessence of our feelings in quarantine.” 

https://eu.indystar.com/story/entertainment/arts/2020/08/04/newfields-exhibition-edward-hopper-more-than-social-distancing-icon/5409604002/ 

Edward Hopper has become an icon of social distancing, but Newfields shows his other sides

 

Domenica Bongiovanni Indianapolis Star Published 9:00 AM EDT Aug 4, 2020 The most popular example might be a tweet from a New Orleans-based writer who in March posted four images of people sitting by themselves, staring out into the distance, underneath the words "we are all edward hopper paintings now." To date, it has almost 220,000 likes, and people are still talking about it four months later.All the while, a major exhibition of Hopper's work was on its way to opening at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. Its curators will say that isolation can be present, sure, but that we should broaden our view.

 

 

 The coronavirus delayed the opening of "Edward Hopper and the American Hotel," which had previously shown at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, until July 17. It runs until Oct. 25. The focus is on Hopper's depictions of mid-20th-century travel — the places people stayed, their moments of stillness, the flux of cities as commercialism edged out vestiges of the past. About 60 of the artist's paintings, drawings, magazine covers and watercolors are on display, along with dozens of works on similar topics by other artists.

 

 "We really lay out how this sense of travel, transience and of temporary spaces — especially hotels — really informed him as an artist," said Anna Stein, assistant curator of works on paper at Newfields.

 

 

 "It's easy to look at his work and say, 'That person looks really lonely,' but I think there's lots of other things you can read into it. I think being alone doesn't necessarily mean that you're lonely. It could mean introspective, it can be the introvert's dream ... and it can just be in a transitional moment."