Nighthawks

Edward Hopper
Image result for edward hopper nighthawks
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942
"Bar Time" 
By BILLY COLLINS

In keeping with universal saloon practice,
the clock here is set fifteen minutes ahead
of all the clocks in the outside world.

This makes us a rather advanced group,
doing our drinking in the unknown future,
immune from the cares of the present,
safely harbored a quarter of an hour
beyond the woes of the contemporary scene.

No wonder such thoughtless pleasure derives
from tending the small fire of a cigarette,
from observing this glass of whiskey and ice,
and cold rust I am sipping,

or from having an eye on the street outside,
when Ordinary Time slouches past in a topcoat,
rain running off the brim of his hat,
the late edition like a flag in his pocket.



Editor's Note: Students were asked to pair a poem and painting with no explanation of the connection. 
  • 7:00 AM

A Man Walks into a Bar: Nighthawks

Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

A Man Walks Into A Bar...
By ELLIE SCHNEIDER

New York City, the city that never sleeps. Nighthawks depicts a couple, waiter, and man in a bar. All of the people are minding their own business, enjoying the quiet in the city that is so loud by day. While they are all there together, yet each of them seems lonely. Hopper said, “If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” What is Hopper trying to tell us with his brushstrokes? I think he wants us to see that the restaurant is a safe haven for the night owls, or night hawks. The restaurant serves as a place for them to gather, but also stay in their own thoughts.

This restaurant on the dark street corner emits eerie light and acts as a beacon of light for the night owls of the city. As the viewer, we are drawn to the bright scene, but are shut out by huge glass window panes. Or, the windows are closing the people in. Since, the people inside are unique in that they are night owls, and so they are isolated from the rest of the city that is asleep. The painting appears quiet, inside the restaurant and out on the street corner.

While we know where the restaurant is (in New York), the painting is also universal, it could be any bar at any time. The fact that the restaurant is open at all hours speaks to American consumer culture with the constant need for a way to spend money, but furthermore speaks to human nature and cravings. In today’s world, there are many stores or restaurants that are open 24-hours, but if people can always get a beer or buy food, when do people stop and relax. Especially in the city, people are always about and rushing from one place to the next. While the night owls are buying into the 24-hour culture, they appear frozen in time, allowing the bustling city of New York to take a breath and relax.

As the viewer, imagine that all of your thoughts and sorrows are trapped, frozen in time behind those huge windows. Take a deep breath and relax.
  • 7:00 AM

Summer Evening

Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper, Summer Evening, 1947
By LILI TUCKER

In (I believe) the 2014 Senior Video, teachers gave advice to seniors in the form of a tweet. While I don't remember the exact words, Dr. Ketchell's tweet contained the phrase "late-night eateries" that completely opened the floodgates and reduced me to a blubbering mess. I remember feeling so much for this 140 character tid-bit because it described, in 3 words, the very distinct type of fun you have as a young adult.  

The road trips at a drop of the hat, the eating Sonic at 2 a.m. or IHOP at 4 a.m. while wearing a toga, playing tennis in a bathing suit or basketball in complete darkness.  This kind of simple fun. No fireworks or four-step-plans. No deposits or reservations, of any kind. You forget who you are -- you forget where you are because it doesn't matter. Those late-night eateries are simply your last attempt at spending just one more half hour with the people you care about. You feel the night coming to a close so you grab their hand and take a sharp left turn onto State Line and you claim you've run out of milk and you simply must get some this instant. Or in the case of this painting, you linger on their doorstep hoping that the earth stops turning just long enough to muster up the courage to kiss her. 

For anyone who knows me well, one of my favorite things in the entire world (besides Gary Whittaker) is grocery stores after  9 p.m. The echo of your shoes hitting the linoleum, the whispering, the florescent lights. In Hopper's painting the Night Hawks, Hopper attempts to capture the feeling of the newly invented florescent lights with a switch to zinc paints. While he never uses zinc paint again, I argue that he never stops capturing that florescent light aura. Or at least the grocery store at 2 a.m. one.  

Many people call Hopper's work lonely. And while I agree that it is about 65% lonely, the term lonely oftentimes implies a sense of melancholy. I contend that Hopper's work is not lonely-- not melancholy but timeless. Hopper so wonderfully captures the moments in life that are timeless. The moments in life that exist in your memory without context, you may or may not remember what happened before or what would happen after but there are moments that can exist without knowing those things. You remember laughing so hard you cried and then crying so hard that your stomach hurt and you couldn't speak anymore so you just sat and watched tv- not saying anything and not needing to. Even though you know what comes next- what does it matter? The road trip ends, Sonic closes, you leave the camping section of Wal-mart, you go home, and you go to bed. You graduate. We all know what happens next. Hopper captures a loneliness of moving on, un-pausing, and growing up. It's not sad because when you look back, you only ever see the during, the meanwhile, the hush - the silence and the stillness. You see the florescent lights and the food on your plate and the people around you. You see time stop. 
  • 7:00 AM

Nighthawks and The Decameron

Decameron
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

"And so they were secretly in love with each other. The young woman was longing to be with him... how they could meet?" - Boccaccio, The Decameron

When I look at the painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, the first thing that I notice is the loneliness of it all. The couple seen in the painting sit together, but the way the lines divide them from the others gives the appearance of isolation. In The Decameron's fourth day, first story, I feel this same isolation in the story of Ghismonda and Guiscardo. Ghismonda's father, Tancredi, refuses to allow her to marry, so she must hide her love for Guiscardo, along with their subsequent affair. They are together, but their togetherness must be hidden, and in this way they are isolated. Tancredi eventually finds out about their affair, however. He kills Guiscardo in retaliation and gives Guiscardo's heart to Ghismonda. She cannot bear to be alone, so she drinks his heart-blood mixed with poison to be with him in death. 

The couple in this painting seem to also be together, they are sitting quite close and drinking together. however, they are also alone. The are separated from each of the other two, and the rest of the painting is just empty space. However, the way the bar sits perpendicular to the wall draws the focus to these two. Whether they found each other in the diner that night or they're a married couple, their presence late at night in a near empty diner says that although they may be alone, they are alone together and seem to prefer it that way.

  • 7:00 AM

Isolation: Office in a Small City

Edward Hopper
Isolation
Solitude and Painting
Curated by Tommy Dunn

Edward Hopper, Office in a Small City, 1953

This is a series of posts about isolation. The first of these posts focuses on a painting by Hopper. This painting has always been beautiful to me, and I think that I feel this way because of how powerfully Hopper manages to convey a sense of isolation. A man sits in his corner office. Despite some ornamentation that can be seen on some of the other buildings, his building and his office within are completely bare. No signs of life exist anywhere in the painting other than the man himself. This adds to his isolation. The color scheme also creates an increased sense of loneliness. Everything feels washed and a little faded. It feels as though the emotion and vibrancy of the city can't be felt from inside that man's office.

It honestly feels pretty sad, which is I think something Hopper loves to make people feel. This image of loneliness has stuck with me as powerful ever since I first saw this painting. The plain, rather dimensionless lines of the painting mean that nothing clutters it emotionally. It exists to convey one single message. I chose to start off my series with this painting because I think it is the single work that, in terms of intent and execution, most clearly conveys a crippling, overpowering sense of isolation. I hope you enjoy.

  • 7:00 AM

Sherlock and Nighthawks

Becky Reilly
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

(This post refers to the clip from 22:57, where the video should start, to 27:13).

BBC's Sherlock is only one of countless adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 19th-century mystery stories.  But the British channel remodels Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson's adventures and situates them in present-day London, fundamentally changing each mystery with the advent of cell phones, fast transport, and the internet. Each episode echoes one of Doyle's works -- "A Study in Scarlet" becomes "A Study in Pink," "The Sign of Four" turns into "The Sign of Three," and so on.  But despite the evolved stories, the aspect of the show that has been most altered is the characters.  Sherlock Holmes' most well-known quality, in both the books and the television series, is his power of deduction, by which he can surmise most peoples' life stories at a glance. He becomes a self-proclaimed "consulting detective," solving crimes with New Scotland Yard with the help of new colleague Dr. John Watson. He lives for intellectual stimulation by solving crimes and suffers from an otherwise constant state of manic-depressive boredom, conducting science experiments and shooting holes in the walls of his ill-kept flat.

The central figure of "Nighthawks" sits alone at the bar, evidently isolated but also trapped in the exit-less building, staring at either the social interaction across the room or maybe his drink. A similarly dressed man with his white mug in the same position as the central figure's sits next to the woman in red, so the figure might even envision himself by her side, a surrogate of himself caught up in the alien banter. The man with the turned back, in any case, does not seem quite content in his solitude.

The clip above comes from the newest season and shows Sherlock's slow evolution into a sympathetic character. At the beginning of the scene, John has just asked a dumbstruck Sherlock to be his best man, and the video transitions to Sherlock's best man speech at John's wedding. While his written words are eloquent, he cannot quite seem to understand his audience's reactions and is uncomprehending when they get teary and need him to pause. He, ironically, has acute powers of perception but cannot comprehend others' emotions.  Sherlock is Hopper's man with the turned back, observing from afar but never quite in touch with others.  It is no wonder that he leaves the wedding early and alone. Other characters speculate on Holmes' mental condition and seeming inability to empathize, labeling him a psychopath (to which he counters, "high-functioning sociopath"). Sherlock wears his self-diagnosed mental illnesses like a shield against emotion and acknowledging his loneliness.

The figure in the painting could also be John Watson, a recently returned and psychologically average Afghanistan veteran who becomes Sherlock's flatmate. Sherlock recruits him on his adventures for his skills as an army doctor, and Watson eagerly follows along. He allegedly seeks a normal life and relationship away from government and criminal intrigue despite his continual involvement in it. Sherlock asserts that John has an addiction to a dangerous lifestyle, as many of the people around him that he has befriended turn out to be psychopaths with shady histories (but no spoilers). The dismayed Watson refuses to accept this part of himself but also will not turn away from the people he has welcomed into his life.

The innovation of BBC's adaptation comes from the binary character study and the evolution from two lonely people, as in "Nighthawks," into a tentative and unique friendship.

  • 7:00 AM

Eleven A.M - The Great Gatsby

1926
Edward Hopper, Eleven A.M.

"I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I like to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded through a door into warm darkness. At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life." —F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Eleven A.M., like majority of Edward Hopper’s paintings, reflects solitude and missed connections. Here we see a woman staring aimlessly at events unfolding on the streets of New York. Although the outside is not shown, we can easily assume a busy morning start in the restless city, which echoes with Nick Carraway’s perception of New York as “racy, adventurous” and filled with the “constant flicker of men and women.” In the ever-expanding metropolis in the 1920s, a subtle placelessness seems to be growing as well. It is easy for individuals to feel like “just a number,” and Fitzgerald depicts just this spiritual emptiness in flamboyant lifestyle of the riches. 

Realistic, firm and direct construction of buildings was Hopper’s calling card. The straight lines on the door frames, curtains and cabinet suggest sureness, coldness even, and gives a sense of solitude to the painting. Sunlight falls on the woman, making her isolated from the crowds of solid, dark background. Outside the window we see the top of another building, suggesting a relative high place this bedroom is. Therefore the woman is physically separated from the people or events outside. With her legs slightly apart, arms resting on her knees, she leans towards the window yet still sits deeply in the chair. Hopper conveys her indifference and detached attitude from body position without painting a single facial feature. 

Similarly, Nick Carraway senses his own sense of loneliness at the high of New York party scene. Returning from Gatsby’s elaborate gatherings, he walks and fantasizes about romantic encounters with strange women. I find this idea oddly compelling. Nick prefers personal imagination of intimacy over the enforced, physical closeness at parties. His sense of solitude, much like the woman in Eleven A.M., reaches high in the restless modern urban life. 

  • 7:00 AM

Office in a Small City

Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper, Office in a Small City, 1953

At the end of sophomore year, a year ago right about now, I really wasn't familiar with art in any way. I could probably identify the most famous paintings, but I had no appreciation for art. I signed up for art history, and I thought it would probably be a pretty fun class. However, I wasn't really sure what to expect or whether I would ever develop an affinity for paintings in sculpture. Then, when I took the final exam for my English class, I discovered the first painting that I really connected with emotionally.

Hopper's works almost always resonate with me, but this one in particular had a vibe that I could understand. It felt easy to me to put myself in that man's shoes. I could empathize with him for some reason in a way that I rarely ever feel. He sits in the nicest office in his building, and yet he seems only more isolated for it. I love the color scheme--the washed-out beige tones and the faded blue sky seem to suck even more emotion out of the painting. I don't know what it was about that painting. Maybe it was that I saw it in conjunction with Raymond Carver's "Why Don't you Dance?" one of my favorite short stories. Whatever it was, that painting changed my perception of art forever. It made me understand that looking at paintings wasn't something that had to be done in cold, academic sense.

Paintings could be fun and interesting and evoke emotions in a reader that other media could not. In this past year I have seen a lot of art work. I'm not sure I have found one that I enjoy as much as this one. On that day in the middle of the whirlwind of finals, Edward Hopper taught me that art could be cool.

Editor's Note: The students were assigned to write about the artwork that has impacted them the most. These pieces will run for  about two weeks. 
  • 7:00 AM

Office in a Small City

Brennan DePew
Edward Hopper, Office in a Small City, 1953
Hopper's painting accesses a unique emotional dichotomy. It communicates a loneliness, an empty, blank perspective, a man who, while above the city, has no connection to it. He sees the city as it truly is, and thereby separates himself from it.  The simpleness, the pure uncluttered nature of Hopper's piece builds on the emotion, or lack thereof, of the painting. On the other hand, the soft tones and easy lines make the piece consumable. It's easy to look at, to take in. It'scomfortable.

Beyond these two elements, however, lies a third: it's relatable. Not person among us hasn't felt empty, or meaningless, at some point. Everyone views themselves, in one way or another, as detached from society. Most of all, everyone has sat at a desk, looked out a window, and wished themselves somewhere else.

"My aim was to try to give the sense of an isolated and lonely office interior rather high in the air, with the office furniture which has a very definite meaning to me," Hopper said in regard to his work. He attempts, and succeeds, at creating a separated and elevated sense of space. The man looks down at the city from its highest point, but by doing so removes himself from it. Or vice versa: he separates himself in order to view the city from above. Superiority comes at the cost of loneliness.
  • 7:00 AM

New York Movie

Brennan DePew
Edward Hopper, New York Movie, 1939
At first glance, Hopper's piece bespeaks loneliness and seclusion. The doorwoman, excluded from the people and the screen, seems to hide in the back of the theatre. But I choose to view her separation from a different perspective. What if, instead of stuck back there in some sort of banishment, the doorwoman seeks a kind of refuge from the noise, the light, the rustling of popcorn chewers? Rather than exiled to this niche, she chooses this banishment to escape from all the motion of the movie. She simply takes a break from everyone else's life, and uses it to reflect on her own.

These moments are the ones I treasure. Not for the memories they create, but for the relief they give. True, these little breaks won't be things you look back on in your old age, or the stories that you tell your children and grandchildren, but these are what get you through the day. When you can take a step back from the crowd, and appreciate the moment.

  • 7:00 AM

Evening Wind and The Ducks

Aaron Dupuis
Edward Hopper, Evening Wind, 1921

"He got out of bed and went to the window. It was black outside and he could see nothing, not even the rain. But he could hear it, cascading off the roof and into a puddle under the window. He could hear it all over the house. He rain his finger across the drool on the glass.

When he got back into bed, he moved close to her and put his hand on her hip. 'Hon, wake up,' he whispered. But she only shuddered and moved over farther to her own side. She kept on sleeping. 'Wake up,' he whispered. 'I hear something outside.'" - Raymond Carver, The Ducks

Clashing violently with the black walls of the room, the snow white portal to the outside holds no comfort or warmth in its depths. Only the elements and the howling winds, which thrust the curtains into the room with each gust, lay in wait outside the home. And caught in nature's crossfire the woman sits on all fours, vulnerable, naked and alone. She will find no comfort in the sheets that share the same snowy color as the wild unknown. There is no escape for her.

When I first saw this sketch I was reminded of Raymond Carver's short story "The Ducks," which explores the relationship of an unnamed man and woman through the death of the man's colleague and a night spent making love during a heavy rain storm. As in many Carver stories, the couple has a broken relationship, one lacking real love; instead their connection gets built upon lust and convenience. Though they are together, they are completely alone, just like the figure in Hopper's work. The woman seems to harbor genuine feelings for her lover, but he remains distant and cold to her, at least until a failed attempt at love making. Deep in the night he goes to the window and becomes frightened by what lays beyond, and finally turns to her for comfort, but finds that he cannot wake her up.

He has only himself.

Vulnerable....Naked....

Alone.

  • 8:00 AM

Hotel Lobby and The Lost Art of Reading

David Ulin
Edward Hopper, Hotel Lobby, 1943
Like most of Hopper's painting, the sense of isolation and loneliness are well depicted. The foyer is dominated by cool colors. The decoration is unusual in terms of a hotel lobby, which  should be warmer and more customer-friendly. The green line on the floor segments the couple from the girl and leads our eye towards the darkness and uncertainty in the back. The couple seems anxious. The husband cannot sit still, and the wife's red dress only makes the frame bleaker and more alienated. Harsh light, rigid lines. All above, Hopper creates a carefully constructed uncomfortable environment.

However, if you look closely at the blond girl in the right corner, sitting with her legs crossed, reading a book and with a flush on her face, she seems quite comfortable. Contrasting to the couple waiting desperately for something unknown, the blond girl looks relaxed and occupies her time with reading. She is by herself, oblivious to her surroundings, but we might also tell that her minds travels through another world and temporarily escapes from this desperate environment through reading

In the book The Lost Art of Reading, David L.Ulin describes his feeling about reading: " I recall the joy of contemplating that portrait, the way it made me feel as if a world had opened up in the palm of my hands. It is this, I think, that draws us to books in the first place, their nearly magical power to transport us to other landscapes, other lives." We will never know if Hopper suggests reading as the ultimate way to save us from this modern, lonely world. Nevertheless, being in such a world today, we might think about reading as an option besides playing with your phone and looking for friends on Facebook when you are waiting in a hotel lobby. Calm down, pick up a book, and treat it like your temporary company - not necessarily to learn anything, but to help keep the loneliness at bay.

  • 12:11 PM