They had (have?) some Hopper's on display at the Huntington Museum. I realized that even the best art books are unable to reproduce the stunning colors of the originals. It was the visual equivalent of CD audio versus live performance - just not the same at all.
The Blue Boy at the Huntington was the artwork that really drove that point home for me. I had seen it only on computer screen before and that's even worse at color reproduction than print. That's all it took to ignite a life long appreciation of art and afterwards I was the ideal parental accessory at any museum.
I never find Hopper's paintings striking, or overwhelming (perhaps because I've never seen one in person). But I think about them all the time. I think that's because he captures the kind of moment you see all the time; and those moments you experience alone quite often.
I think of him every time I watch a Wong Kar Wai movie, especially Chungking Express, and In the Mood for Love.
Two levels of dialog boxes, jesus. What a disaster!
Anyway, if you're ever in Chicago the actual works are beautiful to witness. My favourite is Rooms By The Sea. I think Hopper captured that almost-liminal-space feeling very well. You can really feel it. Office in a Small City also really makes me feel so many ways.
It's quite interesting how art does this. For me it reminds me of my first few days walking down San Francisco's streets mid day, with not a soul in sight, sunny and shining down the empty streets. Very evocative in a feeling way. Not just descriptive. That's just one piece of it. To describe it would be so much text, none of which will mean anything to almost everyone else.
My favorite Hopper painting (and comparatively little known as compared to things like "Nighthawks") is "House by the Railroad" (1925) -- a vaguely menacing Victorian style house which apparently inspired Norman Bates' house in Psycho, the Addams' house in the Addams Family, and the house in the James Dean movie Giant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_by_the_Railroad
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I saw it in the cinema and it was really well done.
I think of him every time I watch a Wong Kar Wai movie, especially Chungking Express, and In the Mood for Love.
Anyway, if you're ever in Chicago the actual works are beautiful to witness. My favourite is Rooms By The Sea. I think Hopper captured that almost-liminal-space feeling very well. You can really feel it. Office in a Small City also really makes me feel so many ways.
It's quite interesting how art does this. For me it reminds me of my first few days walking down San Francisco's streets mid day, with not a soul in sight, sunny and shining down the empty streets. Very evocative in a feeling way. Not just descriptive. That's just one piece of it. To describe it would be so much text, none of which will mean anything to almost everyone else.