Edward Hopper: From City to Coast

The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) presents Edward Hopper: From City to Coast as part of its “Masterpieces from Overseas Collections” series, which introduces renowned masterpieces in cooperation with leading overseas art institutions. Jointly curated by SeMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, this is the first solo exhibition on Edward Hopper (1882–1967) in Korea. A leading figure in modern art, Hopper captured on canvas the daily lives and sentiments of early 20th-century Americans from a unique perspective. With an artistry transcending time and space, his work has not only greatly influenced fine arts, but culture as a whole, and continues to enjoy worldwide popularity.

In 2020, The Guardian, a British daily, published an article titled “‘We are all Edward Hopper paintings now’: is he the artist of the coronavirus age?” Why is Hopper, an American artist from the early 1900s, being reexamined today, at a time when feelings of isolation, disconnection, and alienation are prevalent? As Hopper put it, “Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist.” For him, who was of a taciturn nature, painting was a unique way of expressing his feelings towards the world. The gaze stays on those ordinary things “that others flee from or pass with indifference,” captured through Hopper’s meticulous observation and his unique use of light and shadow, bold composition, and reconstruction of time and space. In this sense, his paintings go beyond the landscape to become an introspective self-portrait and, be it someone’s silhouette across a window, the roof of a low building in contrast with a skyscraper, or a sunset on the railroad, they all resemble us.

Edward Hopper: From City to Coast looks back on the artist’s 65-year painting career, focusing on those places in Paris, New York, northern New England, and Cape Cod whose traces were captured in his works. As he regularly traveled between his longtime home in New York City and various rural and coastal retreats, these places played an integral part in expanding Hopper’s artistic horizons. The exhibition title, which means “On the way” in Korean, is meant to evoke Hopper’s journeys, along which he developed his personal style—each road connecting and becoming a unique trace of his own—and the moments in which we encounter Hopper. This exhibition presents 270 pieces spanning Hopper’s entire life, including drawings, prints, oil paintings, watercolors, and materials from the Sanborn Hopper Archive divided into 7 sections to provide a faithful overview of the artist’s life and artistic universe. Though Hopper’s work is most often thought of as depicting the solitude of modern people, the paths he walked were diverse and profound. “To me the most important thing is the sense of going on. You know how beautiful things are when you’re traveling.” As his words suggest, Hopper felt a unique sensitivity to place throughout his life, grounded in his keen observational skills and made meaningful through the synthesis of memories and imagination. It is our hope that this exhibition broadens our understanding of Edward Hopper and that, to those of us in many ways fatigued, his works may offer sympathy and solace.

Co-organized by Seoul Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Curated by Seungah Helen Lee.
Coordinated by Yoonjung Oh and Sohyun Ahn.

Catalogue Edward Hopper: From City to Coast  (ISBN: 979-11-88619-69-6 93600) can be purchased in Kyobo Bookstore.