Is one of America’s foremost 20th-century artists a cheater?
Realist painter Edward Hopper — best known for creating the iconic work “Nighthawks,” in which nighttime city diner patrons are viewed from outside — is believed to have copied some of his earliest works from art exercises.
A British graduate student by the name of Louis Shadwick was the first to note that Hopper appears to have copied two paintings, “Rowboat in Rocky Cove” and “Old Ice Pond at Nyack” from paint-it-yourself lessons found in an 1890s magazine called The Art Interchange.
In a detailed article published in a recent edition of The Burlington Magazine, Shadwick lays out his argument.
“‘Old Ice Pond at Nyack’ is a copy of ‘A Winter Sunset’ by the Tonalist artist Bruce Crane, while ‘Rowboat in a Rocky Cove’ is a copy after a watercolor titled ‘Lake View’ by an unknown painter,” asserts Shadwick. “These discoveries open up fresh lines of enquiry concerning Hopper’s youth and early development.”
“Old Ice Pond at Nyack,” painted circa 1897 when Hopper was only about 15 years old, has an estimated value of between $300,000 and $400,000, according to online art sales site Artsy.
Hopper, also a distinguished printmaker, explored city themes tinged in isolation in his 1922 painting “New York Restaurant” and 1932’s “Room in New York,” which shows a young couple appearing emotionally distant from one another.
But it is “Nighthawks” for which Hopper is best remembered. His 1942 masterpiece resides in the Art Institute of Chicago.
“This is a fascinating revelation but one that does not reduce the importance of these paintings in the conversation of Hopper’s artistic journey,” explained Juliana Roth of the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center in Nyack, N.Y, according to The Journal News.
Although Hopper’s later paintings are often the most admired, his earlier works are what lure tourists to Nyack to see his inspirations.
“We have visitors from all over the world who come to Nyack,” said multimedia artist Kristina Burns. “There are streets that you can say, 100%, are the origins of certain paintings. Because our town is not overdeveloped, you still see places that are exactly the way they were.”
