211
●
EDWARD HOPPER
Night Shadows
.
Etching, 1921. 175x210 mm; 7x8
1
/
4
inches,
full margins. Edition of approximately 500.
Signed in pencil, lower right. Published by
The New Republic,NewYork. A brilliant,
luminous and richly-inked impression of
this important etching,with strong contrasts
and no sign of wear.
Based in NewYork, Hopper (1882-1967)
studied at the Institute of Art and Design,
where he was instructed by prominent
artists like William Merrit Chase and by
Robert Henri, a progenitor of the
Ashcan School of American Art.Though
he traveled to Europe several times in the
early 1900s when avant-garde movements
like Cubism and Surrealism were receiving
much attention, he was not greatly
swayed by their influence and instead was
attracted to the iconic works and dark
palette of Rembrandt and other Old
Masters. Hopper’s work is characterized by
a sense of silence, stillness and isolation; he
rarely depicted scenes that are chaotic or
show any genuine camaraderie.
He began making etchings and drypoints
in 1915 with the help of fellow artist Martin
Lewis and he produced 70 prints before he
ceased in 1928 to focus solely on painting.
Night Shadows
is a particularly iconic image,
epitomizing Hopper’s propensity for
conveying isolation and stillness through
heavy chiaroscuro and strong, dark cross-
hatching throughout. He used a bird’s-eye
vantage point with extended shadows and
darkness to intensify the still of the night.
The artist depicted this same street corner
in a painting from 1913,
Corner Saloon
, now
in the Museum of ModernArt, NewYork.
Unlike Hopper’s other prints, which he
pulled himself on his personal press in
very small editions, this is the only
etching that was printed commercially for
The New Republic, New York, and
published in a limited edition portfolio
for their December 1924 issue.
Hopper had only one painting,
Sailing
,
1911, in the Armory Show (it is now in the
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh) and
made very little impact on the public at the
time. Levin 82.
[25,000/35,000]
