A Smidge of Hopper's Ledger

Few documents testify so insistently to an intimate relationship between a husband and wife as the Hopper ledgers. They present another aspect of the marriage of Edward Hopper and Josephine Nivison Hopper, a marriage on its way to becoming legendary. Edward Hopper died in 1967, his wife the following year. She bequeathed to the Whitney Museum a trove of paintings (including her own), documents, drawings, and memorabilia. In ten months of her widowhood, she edited the surviving material, which after her death may have suffered further losses before it found its permanent home. A generous woman, she acknowledged the long-term support of the Whitney's their direction, Lloyd Goodrich, by leaving him the four ledgers, which record in detail almost every painting and etching made, exhibited, and sold throughout Edward Hopper's long career. (Brian O'Doherty)

From the Book, Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. Deborah Lyons. 1997, Whitney Museum of American Art.

Hopper's Ledgers

A sketch from my favorite Hopper painting - above.

"What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house."

- Edward Hopper

Here's a small glimpse of Edward Hopper's sketchbook. So fascinating! He planned the colors, even sometimes the brand of paint. Sometimes he drew from newspaper photographs. He seemed to be quite a planner of his paintings... not terribly spontaneous... rather calculated.

Hopper also wrote about to whom a painting was sold, the check number, and the breakdown of the gallery percentage of the sale. (this info was usually penciled in at the end of an entry.) Sometimes he wrote who had come to see certain paintings. Fascinating to see his own personal handwriting and dealings.

From the book, Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. By Deborah Lyons. Whitney Museum of American Art, NY and W.W. Norton & Co. NY. 1997.

PS click on image if you want to read his entries! Fun stuff!!

Georgia O'Keefe's Hands

Ghost Ranch, 1966

Holding Eliot Porter's Rock, Abiquiu, 1966

Ghost Ranch, 1966

Holding a book by Leonard Baskin, bedroom, Abiquiu, 1966

Most of us have seen the beautiful photographs that Alfred Stieglitz took of Georgia in the early part of the 20th century. I thought it would be fun to show those same lovely hands at an older age. These photos were taken in 1966 as part of a Life Magazine story by John Loengard.

I especially like the ones with the bones... she collected a lot of bones from the desert to take back to New York and paint. She said she wanted to to somehow take a little bit of New Mexico with her (she spent her summers painting there during the 1930s and 40's). Georgia O'Keeffe said they never represented death to her - on the contrary, they were very lively. She loved the shapes of the bones, especially in relation to the sky.

**photos taken from the book, Image and Imagination: Georgia O'Keeffe by John Loengard - 1994.

Edward Steichen

Katharine Cornell and Basil Rathbone as 'Romeo and Juliet' in the Broadway production

George Gershwin

Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg - actress and head of production for MCM.

Isadora Duncan at the steps of the Parthenon

1897-1973. American photographer in both world wars, and also an innovative fashion and portrait photographer.

**Continued*** He was born in Luxembourg and came to the US in 1881 and became a US citizen in 1901. Steichen was actually a painter before he became a photographer. In 1905 with Alfred Stieglitz, he helped create the 'Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession'.

I'm a big fan of his portraiture, I love the black and white imagery, the lighting and especially the era of fashion, hairstyles and 'social mindset.'

Will Barnet

3 Chairs, 1991-92. Oil on canvas, 43 x 53 1/2 in. Private Collection

Vigil, 1974-75. Oil on canvas, 48 x 67 1/2 in. Private collection.

The Blue Robe, 1962. Oil on canvas, 50 x 54 in. Private Collection

The Lesson, 1984. Oil on canvas, 71 x 33 1/2 in.

Will Barnet (American born 1911) has profoundly influenced 20th century art. His works are simple yet elegant, tinged with mood. He explores social realism, abstraction, and modernism, all the while playing to fleeting emotions. His images invite reflection, evoke nostalgia, and recall poignant memories.

Grounded in classical sensibilities, the artist is always searching for clarity and harmony as he offers interpretation of life's events. What could be the mundane become the important moments of both the view and the subject.

Barnet studied at the School of Museum of fine Arts in Boston and the Art Students League in New York. He has taught at the Art Students League, Cooper Union, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Cornell and Yale Universities, and other schools. His paintings and prints, spanning social realism, abstraction, figurative work, and modernism, are in prestigious collections worldwide. (author unknown but published by Pomegranate.)

The Lawrence Tree

By Georgia O'Keeffe, 1929. Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.

I love this painting, it shows a calm light one might feel sitting on a porch in the evening, enjoying the moment, taking in the night sky. I wonder how often one might get a chance to experience such a moment in this busy computer age we live in today?

"I spent several weeks up at the Lawrence ranch that summer. There was a long weathered carpenter's bench under the tall tree in front of the little old house that Lawrence had lived in there. I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree - past the trunk and up into the branches. It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the tree." (Georgia O'Keeffe)

Edward Hopper

Tables for Ladies (detail), 1930. Edward Hopper, American 1882-1967 The Met, NYC

I couldn't resist including this image .... I have never seen this painting before, and I thought I'd seen most Hoppers since I have several books about him. What a pleasant surprise! (sorry it's a bit lopsided.)

'US painter and teacher, one of the foremost American Realists. His views of life in New England and New York in the 1930s and 1940s, painted in rich, dark colours, convey a brooding sense of emptiness and solitude, as in Nighthawks 1942 (Art Institute, Chicago). Hopper's teacher Robert Henri, associated with the Ashcan School, was a formative influence.' (Brockhampton)

"If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint it." - Edward Hopper.

Child with Doll

Hand Studies, Child with Doll (detail).

Alma Lavenson, American, 1897-1989. Platinum Print, 7 x 9 in. 1932. The Met - NYC.

Alma Lavenson was born in San Francisco in 1897 and was a self-taught photographer. She became quite well known and was friends with Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham. She famously documented the history of the Gold Rush by photographing rush towns and buildings. This Gold Rush collection now is at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. She was invited to join an exclusive group exhibition called "Group f/64". Alma remained more of an 'amateur' photographer and died at the age of 92 in 1989.