Edward Hopper - An Intimate Biography

In the art of Edward Hopper (1882-1967), tense, unhappy men and women, in whom we recognize something of our neighbors and ourselves, play out mysterious dramas in silent, stripped-down spaces - stages raked by an unrelenting and revealing light. These paintings, and Hopper's equally evocative landscapes and houses, make us wonder: what kind of man had this haunting vision, and what kind of life engendered this art? No one is better qualified to answer these questions than the art historian Gail Levin, author of the major studies of Hopper's work (including the catalogue raisonne) and curator of many exhibitions that explored his development and cultural context. Delving deeply into his art and into a rich archive of unpublished letters and diaries, she now constructs "An Intimate Biography," which reveals the true nature and personality of the man himself - and of the woman who shared his life and helped to shape his art. Jo Hopper's diaries permit an intimate look at the interactions of an indissolubly bonded couple, revealing for the first time the personal tensions that lie behind some of Hopper's most haunting works. Gail Levin, sifting the gritty reality of Jo's story with her own analytic skills and historical and literary knowledge, uses the diaries to great effect in linking specific paintings to the time, place, and mood in which they were created. The Roots of Conflict: 1882-1899 Defining the Talent: 1899-1906 Seductive Paris: 1906-1907 The Ambivalent American: 1907-1910 In Search of a Style: 1911-1915 The Detour through Etching: 1915-1918 The Deeper Hunger: 1918-1923 The Leading Lady First Success: 1923-1924 Getting Established: 1925-1927 On the Road to America: 1928-1929 Recognition: 1930-1933 First Retrospective and the Truro House: 1933-1935 An Intellectual Self-Portrait Consequences of Success: 1936-1938 The Struggle to Paint: 1939 The War Begins: 1940 Failed Odyssey: 1941 Nighthawks: 1942 Mexico: 1943 War on the Home Front: 1944 The Aesthetic Divide: 1945 Anxiety: 1946-1947 Illness and Loss: 1948 Melancholy Reflection: 1949 A Retrospective Year: 1950 Mexico Again: 1951 Planning Reality: 1952 Reality: 1953 Taking Stock: 1954 Personal Vision: 1955 Time Cover Story: 1956 Toward Reconciliation: 1957-1958.