While many people know of Edward Hopper because of his paintings, they may not be aware that Hopper's first call to fame was actually from his success in illustration and etching. Etching, a technique in which a composition is incised into a metal plate and then printed in ink on paper, was particularly suited to Hopper's style, allowing him to use strong, clean lines and cross-hatching to enhance the mystery of his chosen subjects and focus on light vs dark. Hopper created a lot of his work to express postwar feelings, for example, alienation and ambiguity. He was one of many American artists that was "neither totally abstract nor traditional" (Hills 177) because he used a lot of distortion in his work as well. Take a look at our site to learn more about Hopper and his journey. 

6 Items in this Learning Collection
Resource with 7 media
Resource with 6 media
Resource with 1 media
Collection Object

Copyright
All Rights Reserved (<p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Hills, Patricia. <i>Modern art in the USA: issues and controversies of the 20th century. </i>Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span><br></p>Levin, Gail. <i>Edward Hopper: an Intimate Biography.</i> New York: Knopf, 1995.<br>)

Night Shadows

Accession Number
1983/1.146

Title
Night Shadows

Artist(s)
Edward Hopper

Object Creation Date
1921

Medium & Support
etching on Van Gelder wove paper

Dimensions
10 ¾ in x 13 13/16 in (10 ¾ in x 35.08 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Dr. & Mrs. S.J. Axelrod

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
American (North American)
Figures
buildings
men (male humans)
modern and contemporary art
night
shadows
street scenes
streets
walking

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& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved