(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – In December 2013, artwork by Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper set the all-time sales records for American paintings at auction, confirming the enduring popularity of these two artists from the twentieth century. This summer, Norman Rockwell Museum will present the early work of these two remarkable artists side by side, offering a rare glimpse into their formative years before they embarked on divergent paths as painters. The Unknown Hopper: Edward Hopper as Illustrator will be on view at Norman Rockwell Museum from Saturday, June 7, through October 26, 2014.

There will be an exhibition-opening gala event for The Unknown Hopper: Edward Hopper as Illustrator on Saturday, June 7, 2014, from 6 to 10 pm, celebrating Norman Rockwell Museum’s 45th anniversary and the opening of the Hopper exhibition. The evening will evoke New York City of the early 1900s, featuring tastes, sounds, and views from a time and place where Rockwell and Hopper started their successful careers. Advance table reservations are available. Please contact the Museum’s Development Office at 413.931.2264 or cmoser@nrm.org.

“The Unknown Hopper” will present a comprehensive study of Edward Hopper’s nearly 20-year illustration career, featuring more than 50 original drawings and paintings by Hopper. These include important works from the Whitney Museum of American Art, through a bequest from the artist’s wife, Josephine N. Hopper; New Britain Museum of American Art; Mead Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and other collections.

More than one hundred years ago, Norman Rockwell was 20 years old and fresh out of art school. The 1913 New York Armory Show had introduced Europe’s avant-garde artists to America in the biggest art show ever, standing the art world on its head as 90,000 visitors encountered modern art for the first time. Edward Hopper’s 1911 painting, “Sailing” made it into that show, a beacon for the artist who had been working as an illustrator for 12 years but struggled to break free of the commercial constraints of a profession he did not enjoy. In contrast, young Rockwell yearned for success in the illustration field, and by 1916 had landed his first cover commission for “The Saturday Evening Post.”

“Like Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper had an obvious gift for narrative painting,” notes Norman Rockwell Museum Director/CEO Laurie Norton Moffatt. “Both artists were extraordinarily adept at storytelling and depicting light. As a museum dedicated to the study of American illustration art, we are happy to showcase this little-known aspect of Hopper’s career.”

“Many noted American modernists have successfully traversed the worlds of fine art and illustration, embracing innovation while satisfying, in unique and personal ways, the needs and wants of a broad popular audience,” notes exhibition curator Stephanie Plunkett. “The Unknown Hopper” will offer a unique look at attitudes toward art and the crosscurrents of contemporary commercial society during the early to mid-twentieth century.”

Also included in the exhibit are original paintings and illustrations by Hopper’s fellow students and teachers, among them, C. Coles Phillips, John Sloan, and Robert Henri, establishing an artistic and historic context for his 20-year illustration career, which began in Phillip’s New York agency in 1906.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue featuring commentary by Gail Levin, Distinguished Professor of Art History, American Studies, and Women’s Studies at The Graduate Center and Baruch College of the City University of New York. The acknowledged authority on Edward Hopper, she is the author of many books including a four-volume catalogue raisonné (1995), “Edward Hopper as Illustrator” (1979), and “Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography” (1995), which appeared in a second expanded edition in 2007. Levin will speak about her biography of Edward Hopper during a lecture at Norman Rockwell Museum on Thursday, July 17, at 5:30 p.m.
Born in Nyack, New York, Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is recognized as one of the greatest American artists of the twentieth century. His spare and finely calculated renderings of urban and rural scenes reflected his personal vision of modern American life.

Encouraged to study illustration by his parents, Hopper took courses at the Correspondence School of Illustrating, and at the New York School of Art. Noted illustrator/painters Arthur Ignatius Keller, Frank Vincent DuMond, Kenneth Hayes Miller, and Robert Henri were among his teachers. John Sloan, who worked regularly as a commercial artist prior to 1916, also was an early influence.

In 1906, Hopper landed a part-time job at an advertising agency and went on to create images for such popular magazines as “Scribner’s Magazine,” “Everbodys,” and “Country Gentleman,” and for specialty journals like “Hotel Management,” “The Morse Dial,” and “Wells Fargo Messenger.” A very private individual, he left no written reflections on his two-decade career as an illustrator, even though he believed that an artist’s mature development was linked to the work of his formative years.

Between 1906 and 1910, the artist made three trips to Paris. Unlike other American artists of the time, Hopper ignored the innovations of the city’s most avant-garde artists, favoring an earlier generation of European painters, including Rembrandt, Degas, and the Impressionists, whose work was praised by his former teacher Robert Henri.

Attracted to realist art, Hopper began producing etchings and painting urban and architectural scenes in a dark palette. His first one-person exhibition was held in January 1920 at the Whitney Studio Club, founded five years earlier by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. In July 1924, Hopper married Josephine Verstille Nivison, a fellow painter whom he had met in art school.

Hopper was very productive through the next four decades, producing such important works as “Automat” (1927), “Chop Suey” (1929), “New York Movie” (1939), “Girlie Show” (1941), “Nighthawks” (1942), “Hotel Lobby” (1943), “Morning in a City” (1944), and “Hotel by a Railroad” (1952). The influence of his distinctive style is felt to this day, extending beyond painting into photography, film, and popular culture.

 

 

EXHIBITION OPENING GALA

The Unknown Hopper: Edward Hopper as Illustrator

Saturday, June 7, 2014

6 to 10 p.m.

Celebrate Norman Rockwell Museum’s 45th anniversary and the opening of our Edward Hopper exhibition with an evening evocative of New York City in the early 1900s. This special benefit will feature tastes, sounds, and views from a time and place where Rockwell and Hopper started their successful careers. Sponsorships and advance table reservations are available. Please contact the Museum’s Development Office at 413.931.2264 or cmoser@nrm.org.

 

Impossible Craft: The Artist’s Biography

Thursday, July 17, 5:30 p.m.

Meet Dr. Gail Levin, an acknowledged authority on Hopper. Dr. Levin will speak about her 1995 biography on the artist, and discuss the challenges and intricacies of crafting an artist’s biography.

 

About Norman Rockwell Museum

Norman Rockwell Museum is the preeminent museum of American illustration art. Dedicated to art education and art appreciation inspired by the enduring legacy of Norman Rockwell, the Museum stewards the world’s largest and most significant collection of Rockwell art, and presents the works of contemporary and past masters of illustration. The Museum’s holdings also include Rockwell’s last studio, moved from its original location to the Museum grounds, and the Norman Rockwell Archives, a 200,000-object collection undergoing digital preservation through ProjectNORMAN, “A Save America’s Treasures Project.” The Museum is home to the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, the nation’s first research institute devoted to the art of illustration. In 2008, Norman Rockwell Museum became the first-ever museum recipient of the National Humanities Medal, America’s highest honor in the field.

Norman Rockwell Museum is located on 36 park-like acres in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Rockwell’s hometown for the last 25 years of his life. The Museum is open year-round; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. From May through October, hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; from November through April, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Rockwell’s studio is open May through October, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $17.50, $16 for seniors, $10 for students, $5 for kids and teens 6 to 18, and free for Museum members and children 5 and under. Visit the Museum online at Norman Rockwell Museum.