Hopper drawing /

Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Hopper Drawing is the first publication to focus on the role drawings played in Hopper's artistic process. The catalogue begins with a historical overview of the artist's drawings. The subsequent eight chapters offer in-depth analyses of the part that drawings played in the development of some of Hopper's seminal paintings, including Nighthawks. Curator Foster deftly argues that the "Hopperesque" painting style begins with and can best be seen in the artist's drawings. More specifically, Foster and the other contributors succinctly detail the way in which Hopper drew "from the fact," but then used his drawings to transform the image through subjective memory to distill the essence of the subject matter. This process produced at different moments an uncanny, a universal, or a poetic sensibility that is uniquely Hopper. The engaging essays, some of which include new primary source material, offer scholars greater insight into Hopper's creative process. The essays reveal what artistic success entails; accordingly, they should be required reading for students learning to draw and to see. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. J. H. Noonan Caldwell College

Directing attention to the drawings and sketches of Edward Hopper, an artist known for his indispensable impact on oil painting, this catalogue is flush with keen and surprising insight. Little critical attention has been given to the artist's drawings, in part because he often discredited them himself. Reproduced here in generous number and with liberal detail, the work is contextualized as a fundamental aspect of his process and his overarching vision. Fans of Hopper will be familiar with his subtle, otherworldly manipulation of light and shadow and his seemingly innate ability to transform the commonplace into moments of poetic awe. By tracking the many sketches and revisions of some of his most iconic works (Nighthawks, Office at Night, and Early Sunday Morning get particular attention), the essays in this catalogue make evident the intimate links between method, imagination, and craft that allowed this singular style to emerge. The breadth and depth of these studies equal the expansive selection of sketchings, and while the exacting detail of the analysis goes further than many readers might expect, the recurrent moments of acuity alleviate any sense of academic tedium. In text and image that are truly useful, the catalogue manages to make new one of the most familiar artists of the past century. Color illustrations. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.