Paper Proposal
Hopper’s Women
I have been interested in Edward Hopper ever since I took my first art history class as a senior in high school and I have been waiting for an excuse to write about him. As his most well-known painting that has been in every survey text I have observed, Nighthawks is, of course, the first image that drew me to Hopper. I once read somewhere that the viewer’s interpretation of Nighthawks, whether you view the couple as married or having an affair and whether you see loneliness or hope as the overall theme, was representative of the viewer’s own life and personality. As I was considering various paper topics, someone put the idea in my head of writing about Hopper’s depictions of women and immediately all of the solitary images of women painted by Hopper that I could remember flashed through my mind. As I began my research, I learned about Hopper’s wife, who was also an artist until she ended up putting her career on the backburner to support her husband. Their marriage was turbulent at times and I have no doubt that some of their problems arose from resentment Jo must have felt at sacrificing her career and the changing American society in the 1950’s and 1960’s in which gender roles were being challenged. Edward Hopper’s depiction of women, particularly his solitary figures, reflects the loneliness and estrangement he and his wife, Josephine, experienced at times.
While most of my preliminary research has been focused on Edward Hopper, I plan to research Josephine Hopper’s life and career more to get a better understanding of her point-of-view and either confirm or reject my suspicions that mark her as the backbone of her husband’s work and success. I also plan to expand my sources to include the following so I have a framework for ideas that I can relate back to my topic:
Gouma-Peterson, Thelma, and Patricia Mathews. “The Feminist Critique of Art History.” Art Bulletin 69 (1987): 326-57.
- Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, “An Exchange on the Feminist Critique of Art History.” Art Bulletin 71 (1989): 124-26.
- Thelma Gouma-Peterson and Patricia Mathews, “Reply.” Art Bulletin 71 (1989): 126-27.
A study on Hopper’s depiction of women in relation to the role Jo played in their marriage and his artistic success is important because it draws to the viewer’s attention that although Hopper’s paintings tend to have themes of loneliness and isolation, this is by no means a “one man show” so to speak. Some of the images I plan to focus on are Girlie Show ( 1941), A Woman in the Sun (1961), Morning Sun (1952), Hotel Room (1931), and Eleven A.M. (1926).
Edward Hopper’s marriage had a significant influence on his works, in particular his depictions of women. Jo Hopper’s role as her husband’s supporter and model was imperative to his success, but at the price of her own artistic career.
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Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources
Hopper, Edward, and Josephine Nivison Hopper. Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art in association with W.W. Norton & Company, 1997).
Josephine N. Hopper, wife of Edward Hopper, provides carefully detailed descriptions alongside her husband’s own illustrations of his works. This journal presents valuable insight into Hopper’s creative process and it is especially interesting to read the descriptions of his paintings containing solitary female figures.
Secondary Sources
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. (New York: Thames and
Hudson, 2002).
Although Chadwick does not reference Hopper, I thought this source was important to provide a framework of “women, art, and society.” This will help me link Hopper’s images of women to women artists of his time.
Fahlman, Betsy, review of Art and the Crisis of Marriage: Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe, by Vivien Green Frye, Journal of the History of Sexuality 13, no.2 (2004): 246-249, Expanded Academic ASAP, Thomson Gale,
University of Mary Washington, http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umw.edu:2048/itx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C22%29edward+hopper+marriage%24&sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&sort=DateDescend&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&searchId=R2¤tPosition=1&userGroupName=viva_mwc&docId=A124699217&docType=IAC, 8 Sept. 2007.
Fahlman gives a useful overview of the book, including a breakdown of each chapter that helped me zone in on information that I found most relevant to my topic. Overall Fahlman believes Frye did an excellent job at exploring a topic that is significant in understanding Hopper’s work and will engage readers from many different disciplines.
Frye, Vivien Green. Art and the Crisis of Marriage: Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe. (Chicago:University of
Chicago Press, 2003).
Frye examines Hopper’s conflicted marriage and the affect it had on his art, such as the images he depicts of solitary females figures that are wrought with loneliness and isolation. Frye’s choice of images for this book are relevant and engaging. One chapter that I found particularly useful in is titled “Shifting Power Dynamics and Sexuality: Edward Hopper’s Girlie Show and Office at Night.”
______. “Edward Hopper’s ‘Girlie Show’: Who is the silent partner?” American Art (2000): 52-76.The volume of American Art that this article is located in is checked out so I have not read it yet. Because it concerns one of the images that I plan to focus on, Girlie Show, I am still going to use this article as research for my paper.
Goodrich, Lloyd. “Edward Hopper.” In São Paulo 9, United States of America: Edward Hopper [and] Environment
U.S.A., 1957-1967, exh. cat.7-16 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1967).In this commemorative catalog published the same year of Hopper’s death, the thesis of Goodrich’s essay states that Hopper, as a pioneer in the realistic portrait of the United States, creates images that are “charged with deep emotion…that give them universal meaning.” Goodrich also states that Hopper’s favorite theme seems to be nude or half- dressed women in an interior setting. I hope to link Hopper’s favorite theme of solitary nude or half-dressed women with the “universal meaning” that viewers during the 1950’s and 1960’s would interpret from his paintings.
Koob, Pamela N. “States of Being: Edward Hopper and Symbolist Aesthetics.” American Art (2004): 53-77.
Koob’s thesis states that “Hopper’s American subjects were ‘mediums’ for expressing his intellectual, emotional and psychological responses” to the material world through his use of symbolist aesthetics. Although this article does not directly cover Hopper’s portrayal of female figure, it does supply a background on his views on painting.
Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. (New York: Random House,1995).
Levin focuses on bringing together the role Josephine played in Edward’s Hopper’s career and the effect their sometimes turbulent marriage had on Hopper’s art. I am going to explore this cause-and-effect relationship as well, particularly with reference to Hopper’s representation of women and Josephine’s sacrifice of her own artistic career. Chapters entitled “Seductive Paris,” “the Leading Lady,” “Consequences of Success,” “Anxiety,” and “Melancholy Reflection” support Levin’s thesis and will be helpful as I continue my research.
______. Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art in association with W.W. Norton & Company, 1980).
Levin concentrates here on providing concise backgrounds explaining what drew Hopper to paint certain themes. The first theme Levin mentions are Hopper’s solitary figures. This book contains excellent images that are organized with respect to Hopper’s themes.
Hobbs, Robert. Edward Hopper. (
New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1987).
Hobbs discusses how Hopper’s view of a changing American affected his art. It briefly examines societal changes in
America during the 1940s and 1950s and I hope to link these changes to gender roles during that time. It also has great images.
Kransfelder, Ivo. Edward Hopper 1882-1967 Vision of Reality. (Germany: Benedikt Taschen, 1995).
Kransfelder presents a concise biography on Hopper that focuses more on including images as examples than including text. The chapter entitled the “Secularization of Experience” provides an in-depth analysis of Hopper’s depictions of women, which Kransfelder describes as an “intimate situation.”
Pollock, Lindsay. “Why Hopper’s So Hot.” ARTnews (2004): 156-157.
Pollock explores Hopper’s international popularity and his influence on other artists. This short article also explores Hopper’s themes of isolation and estrangement and discuses how they came to be viewed as American themes.
Schmied, Wieland. Edward Hopper: Portraits of
America. (New York: Prestel-Verlag, 1995).
Schmied juxtaposes Hopper’s work with other American art during the 1950’s and 1960’s that could also be referred to as “portraits of
America.” There is also a section dedicated to Hopper’s solitary female figures with excellent images.
Seitz, William C. “Edward Hopper: Realist, Classicist, Existenialist.” In São Paulo 9, United States of America: Edward Hopper [and] Environment
U.S.A., 1957-1967, exh.cat. 17-28 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1967).
Seitz discusses Hopper’s compositional style and relates Hopper’s form to his subject matter. I will also explore Hopper’s stylistic conventions and how those conventions relate to his depictions of women.
Troyen, Carol, and Judith Barter and Elliot Davis, eds. Edward Hopper exh. cat. (
Boston: MFA Publications, 2007).
This exhibition catalog of the current Hopper exhibit that will soon be coming to the National Gallery in D.C. has excellent images including many of his female figures with corresponding text.
Ward, J.A. American Silences: The Realism of James Agee, Walker Evans, and Edward Hopper. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985).
Ward relates Realism to what he refers to as the “silence” depicted in the works of Agee, Evans, and Hopper. This source is useful because of the definitions of Realism in
America, but I probably will not refer back to it often.
Patrons and Patronage in Early Modern Italy
“Vittoria Colonna and the Commission for a Mary Magdalene by Titian,” by Marjorie Och
Discussion Outline
I. Interpreting the documents
A. Series of letters discussing the Magdalene
i. Frederico II Gonzaga acting on Colonna’s behalf
ii. Colonna’s letters to Gonzaga indicate her interest in the Magdalene
iii. No correspondence between Colonna and Titian
B. Previous scholarly confusion of the documentation concerning the patronage of Mary Magdalen
II. Patronage and women
A. Women often required to act through a male relative
i. As a widow, Colonna had no husband to act as her agent
a. Colonna and Gonzaga were related by marriage
b. Colonna should go to Gonzaga for commissioning advice and assistance
ii. Gonzaga may have been repaying a debt
B. Relates to Properzia de’ Rossi and Lavinia Fontana
i. Both had male relatives that obtained commissions on their behalf
ii. Similarities in societal restrictions whether you were a woman artist or a woman patron
III. Representations of Mary Magdalene in literature
A. The New Testament
i. Eastern church tradition in which Mary Magdala, Mary of Bethany, and the unnamed sinner maintained separate identities
ii. Western church tradition in which the three women merged into one Mary Magdalene, known as a converted sinner
B. The Golden Legend
i. The Penitent Magdalene “embellished and moralized”
IV. Representations of Mary Magdalene in art
A. Arguments over the sensuality versus the religious significance in Titian’s Magdalene
B. Titian’s view of Mary Magdalene’s “body as her most significant attribute”
i. Because of desire and temptation, her beauty is her downfall
C. Comparisons to Venus
V. Meanings Mary Magdalene held for women in early modern Italy
A. Widowed women sometimes urged not to remarry
i. Vittoria Colonna joined a convent even though she had several opportunities to remarry
ii. Colonna viewed Mary Magdalene as a model of penitence and virtue
B. Use of Magdalene imagery in sermons
i. Capuchins in Rome
ii. Warning to viewers against the danger that lies in physical beauty
C. Mary Magdalene as exemplar in Vittoria Colonna’s life rather than intercessor
Images
http://www.abcgallery.com/T/titian/titian38.JPGMary Magdalen, Titian, ca. 1530-35,
Florence, Galleria Pitti
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