Synopses & Reviews
Edward Hopper's canvasses are filled with stripped-down spaces and unrelenting light, evocative landscapes, and the lonely aspects of men and women seemingly isolated in their surroundings. 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 art historian Gall Levin, author and curator of the major studies and exhibitions of Hopper's work. In this intimate biography she reveals the true nature and personality of the man himself -- and of the woman who shared his life, the artist Josephine Nivison.
"Gail Levin has given us, with obvious erudition and admiration, Hopper the 'creative artist' and Hopper the reclusive, cranky, brilliantly thoughtful, impossibly egoistic, highly industrious man.... In this engaging, instructive biography, we meet him and his wife Jo, learn of their emotionally intense time together, follow their careers, and, no small feat on the part of their biographer, are left with respect for those two, respect for what they separately and jointly accomplished -- a tribute to them and the one who hands them over to us". -- Robert Coles, Washington Post Book World
"Few (late paintings) have the power of Hoppers Two Comedians (1966). The tremendous virtue of Gail Levin's 'intimate biography' is that it prepares us to feel that power". -- Arthur Danto, The Nation
"This biography is a masterpiece of its genre, magnificently well researched, scrupulous, exact, balanced, objective, and providing cumulatively a real sense of daily life with Hopper and his wife, in the context of the social, political, and artistic events of their time". -- Bryan Robertson, Modern Painters
"Anearly flawless account of a remarkable artist... It is a compelling and accessible narrative for anyone even remotely interested in modern American art. It is also virtually a clinical case study of a certain kind of marriage.... Hopper is now fortunate to have such a generous biography -- generous in its amplitude, generous in its being judmentally restrained, generous in its recognition of his artistic achievement". -- Michael Kammen, New York Times Book Review
"A definitive biography". -- Robert Hughes, Time
Synopsis
Edward Hopper's canvasses are filled with stripped-down spaces and unrelenting light, evocative landscapes, and the lonely aspects of men and women seemingly isolated in their surroundings. 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 art historian Gail Levin, author and curator of the major studies and exhibitions of Hopper's work. In this intimate biography she reveals the true nature and personality of the man himselfand#151;and of the woman who shared his life, the artist Josephine Nivison.
About the Author
Gail Levin is Professor of Art History at Baruch College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York.