P h o t o g r a p h i e
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Edward Hopper’s visual work has a unique signature; for a photographer, it could be referred to as a style of ‘photographic realism’. With his deserted cityscapes and isolated figures, the American painter captured the loneliness and alienation of modern life. But the Covid-19 pandemic has given his work a terrifying new meaning. Social media has made us believe that we now all exist inside an Edward Hopper painting, no matter which one we choose.
The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones asks: “Have we all become Edward Hopper paintings now – is he the artist for the age of coronavirus?” Jones suggests it’s because we are coldly distanced from each other, lonely, sitting at our windows overlooking an eerily empty city, like the woman perched on her bed in “Morning Sun”, or the one looking out a bay window in “Cape Cod Morning”.
The Atomized Individual, Morning Sun (1952) and Cape Cod Morning (1950), by Edward Hopper
Society is transforming under the influence of Covid-19
Who has not been moved by all the images of people or patrol cars in front of hospitals to encourage health workers. They have filled television screens and news sites, presenting an image of encouraging solidarity in our forced solitude – alone and still together. But there are much less reassuring images circulating on social networks.
If we are all really Edward Hopper paintings, a crisis of loneliness is imminent and it may be one of the most serious social consequences of Covid-19. The loss of direct human contact that we accept can be catastrophic. At least that is what Hopper shows us. This American painter born in 1882 made loneliness the inspiration of his life. In the 1920s, when Otto Dix was depicting the partygoers of the Jazz Age, he painted people who looked like they had never been invited to a party in their lives.
This painting is titled “Metropolis” and was created by artist Otto Dix in 1928. Metropolis depicts the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties of the 1920s. With prosperity and abundance, a festive atmosphere was the rule.
This painting is titled “Metropolis” and was created by artist Otto Dix in 1928. Metropolis depicts the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties of the 1920s. With prosperity and abundance, a festive atmosphere was the rule.
Modern life is hostile to the extreme for Hopper. He doesn't need a pandemic to isolate his poor souls. Cold windows, imposing urban buildings where everyone lives in self-contained apartments, a gas station in the middle of nowhere, the fabric of modern cities and landscapes is for him a machine that generates loneliness.
We all hope to defy Hopper's terrifying vision of alienated, atomized individuals and survive as a community. But, ironically, we have to do so while remaining apart, and it can be cruelly dishonest to pretend that everyone is perfectly OK at home.
In our modern society we are simply better at hiding the isolation that these artists represent loneliness as our modern social condition. Normally we sit alone in cafes, except now we have mobile phones to make us feel social. Modernity throws masses of people into an urban lifestyle that is totally cut off from the social gregariousness that was once the norm.
We choose modern solitude because we want to be free. But now Hopper's art asks a difficult question: When the freedoms of modern life are stripped away, what is left but solitude?
Shirley visions of reality 2013
A film production that exploits the composition, light and tones of Hopper's paintings. Director and producer Gustav Deutsch presents a feature-length film consisting of short scenes reproducing scenes from everyday life, with actors reproducing the roles captured in Hopper's paintings.
Director of photography: Jerzy Palacz, Production: Austrian Film Institute
Gustav Deutsch • SHIRLEY Visions of Reality 2013
Walking Dead: Does fiction become reality?
The Walking Dead concept art and the coronavirus pandemic concept art offer a surprising similarity. The image on the left is a poster from season 1 showing Rick Grimes on a road leading to Atlanta.
During times of infection, businesses are closed and people are required to practice social distancing. As a result, Atlanta's highways are completely abandoned at times, creating a similarity to fictional images such as the zombie contagion seen in The Walking Dead.
Photographer's illustrations of social isolation inspired by Hopper's work
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References
Edward Hopper and American solitude, Pandemic or not, the artist’s masterly paintings explore conditions of aloneness as proof of belonging. The New Yorker, by Peter Schjeldahl, June 1, 2020
Jonathan Jones, Fri 27 Mar 2020
'We are all Edward Hopper paintings now': is he the artist of the coronavirus age?
Arnaud Montagard's photographs of an American road trip look like Edward Hopper paintings by Katy Cowan, June 2020
Leaving fast-paced New York City behind to set off on a journey across America, French photographer Arnaud Montagard captured a nostalgic side of America that Jack Kerouac might have experienced back in the 1950s.
Walking Dead : la réalité rattrape la fiction, Mars 2020
Shirley, Vision of Reality by Gustav Deutsch, 2104
Film expérimental, disponible en version originale sur YouTube
Gustav Deutsch Recreates the Work of Edward Hopper in Shirley: Visions of Reality
La vie personnelle et professionnelle de Shirley en 13 tableaux inspirés des peintures d’Edward Hopper
Top, Scene from the film “Shirley, vision of reality”, bottom: Edward Hopper’s painting, “A room with a view”
Les couleurs du cinéma: L’histoire des films en 50 palettes
par Charles Bramesco, Gallimard, Dec 2023
A silent world
Exploration of time and space
Photo collection by Lucie de Barbuat and Simon Brodbeck
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