Edward Hopper

In 1924, he married Josephine Nivison, a fellow student at the institute where they were trained under the tutelage of Robert Henri. This marriage helped Edward in his artistic venture as his wife supported him and even modelled for most of his paintings.

Josephine was his strongest support and provided constructive criticism which helped him improve his skills.

This exceptional painter breathed his last on 15th May, 1967, in his studio, and a few months after his death, his wife too deceased.

He was born on 22nd July, 1882, to Garret Henry Hopper and Elizabeth Griffiths Smith, in Upper Nyack, New York. He had a sibling named Marion and they belonged to a mercantile family.

He had an affinity to artistic work and after completing high school studies, he joined the ‘Correspondence School of Illustrating in New York City’ where he studied from 1899-1900. He then attended the ‘New York School of Art’ where he was trained by renowned painters William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.

After completing his training as an illustrator, he embarked on three trips which later influenced his art form.

In 1906, he travelled to Paris and at that time it was the brimming with artistic revolution, and Cubism style of visual art had already taken place. There he was introduced to ‘Impressionism’ movement of art, which influenced his work to a great extent.

He made two more trips to Paris and some other European countries in between 1907-10.

In 1910, he went back to New York and launched into a career as a freelancer artist. He even arranged a studio there in which he tried to put his thoughts onto the canvas but found it very difficult to decide on what to paint.

During that time he made a painting named ‘Sailing’ which he exhibited in the ‘Armory Show’ in 1913 and became his first painting to be sold. He expected to earn some recognition after selling this painting but his hopes were not realised.

Soon after, he travelled to Manhattan and settled in Washington Square near Greenwich Village, where he continued to live till his death.

He then dabbled with some illustration work while working as the public relations handler of a movie company. Owing to his interest in theatre and movie he took up the job despite the fact that he found the job of creating posters uninteresting.

During 1915, this painter began to create artistic pieces using the technique of etching and made as many as seventy pieces which were about the city life of Paris and New York.

Hopper created some of the best oil paintings which are still considered among the best paintings in American art. His use of light and darkness, and the well-knit settings within which his models are portrayed in seclusion, mark the uniqueness of his paintings. Some of his most renowned creations are ‘Model Reading’, ‘Nighthawks’ and Room in Brooklyn’.