Hopper's Hat

Both Edward Hopper and his fedora are iconic American objects. As part of this exhibit, I developed small paintings featuring Hopper's hat and details from his paintings in order to bring attention to isolated elements, that even on their own, demonstrate Hopper's brilliance as a composer of objects, no matter how simple or secondary they seem to his overall images. In the postmodern tradition, these studies are art about art.  

We also included small to moderate format landscapes. Scale was important in order to make prices for this work affordable to a general audience.

Many of the landscapes had connections to Rockland County where Hopper grew up and to other sites, including the Palisades where painter John Marin worked to develop abstract landscape painting at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In broader terms, this exibition  and companion lecture were reflections on Hopper's work, landscape painting, how that genre evolved in the twentieth century, and the crossover of fine art and popular culture in America.

Cliff Tisdell - Resident Artist Edward Hopper House, Nyack NY Sept 2019

This exhibition was curated by Ms. Nina Berlingeri, artist and former Manager of Museum Education, at the Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY.

clockwise from top:

Hopper's Hat No. 1 Private Collection

Objects in a Hotel Room

Riverbank Scene No. 2 Private Collection

Canal, Princeton, NJ Private Collection

Riverbank Scene No.1 Private Collection

Man Reading Newspaper