Edward “Hopper Drawing” at the Whitney Museum

Hopper Drawing. Whitney Museum of American Art.

May 23 – October 6, 2013.

This exhibition opened a couple of weeks ago and it’s one that will probably draw you in several times over the summer. On view are drawings from the museum’s own collection as well as works from the private collection of Josephine Hopper, the artist’s widow, who donated some 2,500 works to the Whitney Museum.

Edward Hopper - Couple DrinkingSome are studies, some examinations of specific spaces, interiors, textures, and moods, the artist would later feature in his oil paintings. In fact the curators paired some of the studies and related works with the completed Hopper masterpieces, including Early Sunday Morning (1930), New York Movie (1939), Office at Night(1940), and Nighthawks (1942) that have long become an integral part of the Modern American history.

Edward Hopper Drawing

From the museum:

This exhibition also features groundbreaking archival research into the buildings, spaces and urban environments that inspired his work.

Hopper Nighthawks

Hopper Drawing is organized by Carter E. Foster, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawing.

Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Study for Nighthawks, 1941 or 1942. Fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper; 11 1/8 × 15 in. (28.3 × 38.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase and gift of Josephine N. Hopper by exchange  2011.65

Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Nighthawks, 1942. Oil on canvas, 33 1/8 × 60 in. (84.1 × 152.4 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago; Friends of American Art Collection 1942.51. Photography © The Art Institute of Chicago

Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Study for East Side Interior (recto), 1922. Fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper, 9 × 11 1/2 in. (22.9 × 29.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest 70.342a–b. © Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper, licensed by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Digital image © Whitney Museum of American Art