SMU course descriptions

Edward Hopper’s America: Realism in the 20^th Century

Edward Hopper’s images of gas stations, diners, office workers and city dwellers are among the most iconic in American art.  Grounded in the French Impressionism that he absorbed during three trips to Europe in his youth, Hopper translated the vision of the European modernists to the vernacular architecture and mundane routines of 20^th century American life.

Combining classroom lecture with images of art works, this course will consider Hopper’s student work made during his formative years with Robert Henri, leader of the group known as the Ash Can School for their gritty and unglamorous depictions of New York street life, continuing with his absorption of modern European art while living in Paris in the early part of the century.  Meeting and marrying Jo Nivison, a fellow Henri student, proved pivotal; she became chronicler of his career and his only female model and, later gifted many works to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.  Hopper’s mature oil paintings, such as House by the Railroad, Nighthawks, and Early Sunday Morning, are monuments of modern American art, and are all inspired by places Hopper knew, either near his studio or from his travels.  Often conveying a sense of loneliness or isolation, these unsentimental works of frequently banal subjects individualize the universal malaise experienced by millions of Americans during the rapid changes of 20^th century life; Hopper himself stated that his “aim in painting has always been the most exact transcription possible of my most intimate impressions of nature.”  Hopper’s paintings will also be compared and contrasted with those of his American and European contemporaries. 

Five meetings, 90 minutes each.

 CSC031 Edward Hopper’s America | SMU Continuing and Professional Education