1000 Museums

American artist, illustrator, and printmaker Edward Hopper (b. July 22nd, 1882 – d. May 15th, 1967) was born in Nyack, New York. Hopper was a part of a middle-class family and, in 1899, he graduated from high school. Hopper’s parents were supportive of him and his artistic dreams but pushed him to become a commercial illustrator. He went to the Correspondence School of Illustration for a year before changing schools, to follow his passion in art, by attending the New York School of Art in 1900. Here, he learned from figures such as Robert Henri and William Merritt Chase. During 1906, he was part-time illustrator and went to Paris where he met artists such as Degas and Manet, whose works interested him and stayed with him.

In 1910, he located a place to live and work, at 3 Washington Square North in Greenwich Village, New York. He also spent time on Cape Cod. He sought recognition as an artist in the art world for over a decade and, while seeking fame and acceptance, showed works in group shows in New York City. In 1910, he exhibited works at the Exhibitions for Independent Artists. In 1913, he was in the Armory Show, and in 1915, he practiced printmaking; by 1923, six of his watercolors were included in Brooklyn’s International Watercolor Exhibition. He was in an exhibition at the Frank K. Rehn Gallery in New York and had a solo show in 1920. By 1930, he sold works to The Art Institute of Chicago among other museums. He had a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York three years after. He was a renowned realist painter, creating from life as it was, and is famous for illuminous lighting, perspective, and life-like, realistic quality in his paintings; he is well-known because his works have a realistic appearance, looking almost cinematic. Hopper and Jo, his wife of many years, died ten months apart from each other in New York.