Early Sunday Morning by Edward Hopper - Essay Example

Early Sunday Morning (By Edward Hopper) 1930 Art and artists are deceptive, elusive and fun. Coming in many forms, they leave one open to interpret them as they are pleased. Only when the true meaning is revealed, does one appreciate its beauty and the talent it takes to create such spectacles. In this paper, we will take a look at the painting “Early Sunday Morning”. It will also take into account the tools the painter put to use, including the color, composition and technique among others. Edward Hopper, the painter of the piece “Early Sunday Morning,” was born in New York into a family that supported his artistic talent. On completion of high school, he first enrolled in a Correspondence School of Illustrating for a year before shifting to fine art at New York School of Art under the great artists Robert Henri and William Merritt Chase (Murphy 1). Here, under great artists, he was able to gain outstanding skills and through thick and thin, he was able to produce one of his finest works “Early Sunday Morning.” He began as an illustrator then shifted to painting. This painting in particular was done in 1930 in Greenwich Village, New York City and currently lies at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (Davidrumsey.com 1). Early Sunday Morning was painted to depict one of Edward’s memorable Sunday morning walk along his home street in New York. In this landscape, portrayal of a typical American Main street, that is three feet tall and six feet wide; he depicts the calmness of a Sunday morning with little or no cars running up and down the street and the sun just creeping in from over the tall buildings. He paints what he sees as taught by Robert Henri, who exposed his students to painting everyday experiences in a realistic manner (Murphy 1). Edward truly brings this out with elegant shadows and clear skies that show the calmness and the reality of the painting. In the painting, the sky is clearly seen with no clouds in sight, just a little white fuzz at the right. The shadows being cast by objects indicate the sun is rising from the right side. The streets are empty with only a fire hydrant and a barber’s post appearing at the front of the shops. None of the shops are open too indicating that Edward was taking a walk quite early in the morning. The building in view is a two story building expanding across the length of the street. It seems to have residences at the top and shops at the bottom. The residences are brick red with rectangular windows both open and closed (Artbeyondsight.org 11). In the windows are curtains. Some are white, while others are yellow. The shops are a darker green with large windows. Accesses to the residences are not shown. As the building ends towards the right, Edward cuts off the window at the top and the shop’s window. He intended to show that the building was still continuing. This may be true for both sides. On the top right, there is a dark shadow cast by a taller building. This may have been a newer structure and not part of the original building. It looks greatly out of place. Given the fact that the painting was painted during the time in small towns were being replaced by big cities with taller looming structures, this brings that reality to the painting. The darkness in that section is a sort of foreshadow of what will eventually happen to the small street, be replaced by taller buildings. The colours used in the painting also help in making the painting look more realistic. Edward is able to use both light and dark colors, creating a sense of depth. The contrast in the colors creates shadows that create the illusion of a two dimensional image on a canvas. The red, green and blue colors used are simple color, making it less complex to interpret. This makes it more pleasing to look at. However, the colors also do have a sense of symbolism. The green of the shop would indicate the growth of the small businesses. The last shop on the right is red though. This could represent danger of the businesses, stopping or becoming harder to manage as you progress into the city life that is threatening to replace the small town given that they would also be replaced by bigger better franchises that offered more than they did. It declares a sort of doom to the small businessmen. He uses primary shapes rather than abstract shapes, making it realistic. It also enhances the composition of the painting. Composition is the general arrangement of shape in space. Having chosen a sizeable canvas, the largely rectangular shapes come in different sizes and are arranged in symmetry creating congruence. To achieve all this, Edward used both thick and thin brushstrokes. The thick strokes were used to get more color on the painting while the thin strokes were for getting a finer finish to shapes or objects. He mixes the direction of the strokes. That is, instead of using simply up and down strokes or circular strokes, he uses both and even left to right ones. This creates a distortion that brings out the reality on uneven surfaces and the fact that not all things are perfect both in reality and in perceptions. When all these separate components are brought together into one forming the painting, a certain reality of the image is achieved. Considering the time of the painting as well as the painting itself, it represents the state of life as was during the time of the great economic depression. The stores in the painting are small and look worn out showing that they belonged to small time business men with few and cheap things to offer  (Edwardhopper.net 3). The residences above the shops most likely belong to the shop owners with access located inside the shop. The shops are closed and no one is walking the street. This shows that during the time, life was hard for both the shoppers and shop owners. Even the barber was affected. From the above, we see that Edward had given his work in a realistic setting and was trying to shed light on current issues facing the country. The economic depression ruined small time business men because there was less capital in circulation meaning fewer paying customers. Also, they were unable to make regular purchases to restock their inventory. With the encroachment of the bigger franchises that were now beginning to come into the small towns, they were bound to even lose their market to the more variety offered. According to me though, the picture reflects something else. Instead of representing some dark past faced by the nation, it reflects on the calm and stillness surrounding the painter. What Edward was trying to show is the feelings one felt while deep in thought alone. From a cinematic point of view, he creates the painting with simple shapes and colors to represent his simplicity. The combination of different strokes helps bring out the unevenness of surfaces which I can say are life’s rough and smooth patches. The use of thick and thin shows his dedication to attention to detail. Each has a function. This picture is more or less a portrayal of life in the state of thinking and analysis. Given that this usually occurs in the morning, thus the name suits it. With the sun rising, casting shadows on the street, it seems clear that it is more of a representation of a period of reflection for someone most likely himself, rather than the simple morning painting that I previously thought. In conclusion, it is clear that there is complexity in the creation and interpretation of a piece of art. The painter uses complex mixes of tools to generate effects that leave the viewers of the image in a trance. He uses good contrast in light and dark colors, creating dimensions through the casting of shadows thus creating perception. The composition is great demonstrated by the arrangement of the buildings and the components such as windows and door arrangements. Finally, the techniques used to always determine the real outcome of the picture. The thin and dark brushes for color and fineness of the painting key determinants in the embedding of messages of into pictures. Works Cited Artbeyondsight.org.  Art Beyond Sight: American Art: Art of North and Latin America. N.d. Web. 2014. http://www.artbeyondsight.org/amart/edward-hopper.shtml  Davidrumsey.com.  Edward Hopper / Early Sunday Morning / (1930). 2007. Web. 2014. http://www.davidrumsey.com/amica/amico169867-123922.html Edwardhopper.net.  Early Sunday Morning, 1930 by Edward Hopper. 2009. Web. 2014. http://www.edwardhopper.net/early-sunday-morning.jsp#prettyPhoto Whitney.org. Whitney Museum of American Art: Edward Hopper: Early Sunday Morning. 2014 . Web. 2014. http://whitney.org/Collection/EdwardHopper/31426 Read More