To love a painting is to feel that this presence is… not an object but a voice.
~ Andre Malraux ~
Nighthawk
by
Edward Hopper
Edward Hooper (1882-1967) American realist painter, and on of my favorite artist; this is perhaps his best known painting, “Nighthawk” named by his wife Jo, who served as the female model in this and all of his paintings – the artist is the male model. Hopper famously captured both urban and rural America. He said this painting was inspired by a diner in Greenwich Village, which has long since been demolished. The painting was begun on December 7, 1941, immediately after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, is said to have captured the darkness and despair which hung over the nation in those days, as well as the general feelings of isolation which urban environments might present, with solitary souls sharing a common space though unengaged with each other.
Of note: the painting does not portray a doorway in or out of the diner, nor does there appear a way out of the bar area – everyone is trapped in the painting. Also, the painting captures an eerie glow of florescent light, a new invention at the time.
Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.
~William Blake ~
