Landscape
EDWARD HOPPER (1882–1967)
Longnook Valley, 1934
Watercolor and pencil on paper, 20 x 28 in.
Signed (at lower right): Edward Hopper
RECORDED: Edward Hopper, Record Book II, p. 41, s.v. 1934, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York // Gail Levin, Edward Hopper, A Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II: Watercolors (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1995), p. 267 illus. in color
EXHIBITED: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1935, The Thirty-third Annual Philadelphia Watercolor Exhibition, and the Thirty-fourth Annual Exhibition of Miniatures // Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and traveling (1971–74), Edward Hopper: Selections from the Hopper Bequest to the Whitney Museum of American Art, no. 66, p. 64, illus. p. 55 // Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York, 1974, Edward Hopper: Paintings, Prints, Drawings // Isetan Art Hall, Tokyo, 1976, American Painting, 1900–1940 // San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, and traveling (1980–81), Edward Hopper: The Formative Years // Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County Branch, Stamford, Connecticut, 1986, Edward Hopper Landscapes // University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, and traveling (1986–88), Edward Hopper: City, Country, Town: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art // San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, May 7, 1994–October 29, 1995, American Art, 1900–1940: A History Reconsidered (Part 2)
EX COLL.: the artist; to, Josephine N. Hopper by descent, 1967; to estate of Josephine N. Hopper; by bequest to Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1970; to private collection, New York, 2023
Hopper’s watercolors were executed outdoors during the summer months when the sunlight was at its peak. And in keeping with the fluidity and fast-drying nature of his medium––which required an artist to apply his pigments quickly and with great control––his watercolors are freer and more intuitive than the oils he created in the studio. In Longnook Valley, Hopper worked from an elevated viewpoint, securing his paper support (a rare full-sheet format) to a sketchboard, as apparent by the thumbtack holes in the unpainted margin of the sheet. Taking in the vista before him, he organized the composition into clearly defined areas of landscape—bisected on the left by the meandering Pamet River—and sky, a testament to his powerful sense of design. Consistent with the expressivity that sets his watercolors apart from his oils, Hopper interpreted the scene in a broad, painterly manner, alternating between smooth, translucent washes, as in portions of the sky, small shorthand strokes which effectively denote the textures of grass and foliage in the foreground, and an opaque application of pigment, skillfully used to emphasize the thick bank of trees in the middle register.
In his record book, Hopper specifically noted the “vivid color” palette he used in Longnook Valley, the sparkling tints of yellow, green, pink, red, white, blue, and mauve appearing in the foreground acting as foils to the dark hues used to represent the shadowy trees in the distance, and of course the pale sky with, as Hopper wrote, its “grey bird cloud." In viewing the work one gets a sense of season and regional topography, as well as the artist’s obvious delight in the beauty of nature as he experienced it on a bright summer’s day on Cape Cod.
