Edward Hopper’s New York at the Whitney

 

I was so excited about seeing the Hopper show yesterday and it exceeded all my expectations. 

This painting, “New York Office, 1962” impressed me, and I just looked and looked at the edges. They are really sensitive, which cause his paintings to be so luscious. I’m convinced Mark Rothko was heavily influenced by Hopper.

Add to that the gentle interplay of colors with an occasional jewel that stands out. Here, soft greens and cold and warm blues juxtaposed with a little polygon of bright orange is stunning. But that orange is made up of at least three or four colors with a dash of red at the edges so it isn’t jarring, just beautiful. I was on sensory overload! The photograph doesn’t capture the variations in color and edges, but it does show the impact his work has.

This is a little detail of the painting above.

Just a sampling of work at the show.

Woodpecker

“Woodpecker”

Oil on Board, 8” x 6”

I did a bird series back in the fall, and didn’t post most of them so I’ll do it now. Most of the birds, maybe all of them, were begun with a raw umber underpainting where I nail down my values. (Lights and darks.) Thanks for looking! I’m beginning a landscape series and will post those later.