“If I could say it with words there’d be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper

NEW YORK MOVIE by Bob Kessel

NEW YORK MOVIE  by Edward Hopper 1939

Bob Kessel has created a picture based on the paintings of Edward Hopper as part of the “ART HISTORY” series. The picture is available as a limited edition, signed and numbered, fine art print. Contact Bob Kessel for pricing and availability.

A portrait of Edward Hopper by Bob Kessel as part of the “ARTISTS ON ART” series can be viewed here.

Edward Hopper 1882-1967, was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. In both his urban and rural scenes, his spare and finely calculated renderings reflected his personal vision of modern American life.

His teacher, artist Robert Henri, taught life class. Henri encouraged his students to use their art to “make a stir in the world”. He also advised his students, “It isn’t the subject that counts but what you feel about it” and “Forget about art and paint pictures of what interests you in life.”In this manner, Henri influenced Hopper, as well as famous students George Bellows and Rockwell Kent, and motivated them to render realistic depictions of urban life. Some artists in Henri’s circle, including another teacher of Hopper’s, John Sloan, became members of “The Eight”, also known as the Ashcan School of American Art. His first existing oil painting to hint at his famous interiors was Solitary Figure in a Theater.

In 1905, Hopper landed a part-time job with an advertising agency, where he did cover designs for trade magazines. Much like famed illustrator N. C. Wyeth, Hopper came to detest illustration, but was bound to it by economic necessity until the mid-1920’s.