Edward hopper gay
‘Crisis of marriage’ revealed in O’Keeffe, Hopper art
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Despite the accepted notion that the three decades between the two world wars were a period of marital and family stability, it was a difficult and unsettling time for many middle-class Americans, says a Vanderbilt professor.
Vivien Green Fryd, associate professor of art history and American and Southern studies, comes to this conclusion after studying the art and marriages of two of the 20th century’s most trendy artists, Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper.
O’Keeffe, the modernist who painted cityscapes and flowers early in her career and later became famous for her oils of the Southwestern desert, was married to famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Theirs was an unconventional union that began as an affair while Stieglitz was still married to his first wife. Both partners had well-established skilled identities before and throughout their life together. Hopper, noted for his realist paintings of such commonplace American scenes as hotels, highways, gas stations and suburban homes, and his wife, Jo Nivinson, who had been an designer in her own right before her
Reexamining Edward Hopper—and the Female Behind His Career
“Hopper: An American Love Story” highlights the artist’s relationship with his wife, Josephine Nivison
A woman with gleaming copper hair in a red dress sits in a well-lit diner on a city corner. Only two other patrons, both men wearing dark suits and hats, sit at the counter. The woman may or may not be touching the hand of the man sitting next to her; they don’t look at each other, but their body language indicates that maybe they came together. The uniformed man behind the counter is perhaps in discussion with them, though neither of them are making eye contact. The not heavy from the diner seeps through the large glass windows out onto the dark, deserted city streets.
Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, which imagines this scene, is one of the most identifiable American paintings of the 20th century. Those who may not know Hopper’s name may still comprehend some of his paintings, which explore themes of isolation and loneliness.
But many know much less about the man himself, his career or his personal life. A new production, Hopper: An American Treasure Story, explores his celebrated and lesser-known works, his influences and blind spots as a
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Detail of Edward Hopper’s Study for Sea Watchers, (n.d., graphite on document, PAAM Collection, Gift of Laurence C. and J. Anton Schiffenhaus in memory of Mary Schiffenhaus, and two anonymous donors)
PAAM Explores the Inner Minds of Marsden Hartley and Edward Hopper
by Steve Desroches
Artists Marsden Hartley and Edward Hopper were like two celestial bodies that occupied the similar night sky and never collided, but at times did come into alignment. Born in Lewiston, Maine, Hartley became a significant figure in American modernism while Hopper, from Nyack, New York, became a master of American realism. Hartley lived life as a bohemian and was a closeted gay bloke, while Hopper could be reserved, a bit icy, and perhaps described as conservative with a tiny c. Hartley spent the summer of 1916 in Provincetown, giving it a superlative that stuck, “The Great Provincetown Summer,” while Hopper and his wife Josephine spent years in Truro, living a calm life. In many ways they were total opposites, which is in part what drew Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM)’s chief executive officer Christine McCarthy to put these two artist
Edward Hopper & Josephine Nivison: The Troubled Artistic Union
Edward Hopper is one of the undisputed heroes of American modern art. His works are familiar even to those who rarely visit museums. Hopper’s paintings evoke feelings of gloom, loneliness, and alienation. However, while praising the creative innovation of Hopper, art critics rarely seem to mention his wife, Josephine Nivison Hopper. Nivison was a successful artist before her marriage and she propelled her husband’s career. Read on to absorb more about the troubled union between Josephine and Edward Hopper and the forgotten legacy of this woman artist.
Edward Hopper and Josephine Nivison Hopper
The experience story of Edward Hopper, one of the most recognizable American Realist painters of the 20th century, is widely known and discussed. His wife of forty-four years, Josephine Nivison Hopper, usually gets mentioned as the muse or the model of the great artist.
Josephine Nivison, or Jo as she preferred to be called, was a New York Metropolis native, born in the early 1880s. During her young adulthood, she earned a living working as a school teacher but she always felt an inclination to the arts. She acted in theater compa
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