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Edward Hopper and

the
Imagery of Alienation

Linda Nochlin

Linda Nochlin is Distinguished

Professor of Art History at the
Graduate Center, City University of
New York.

EdwardHopper'sGasof 1940(PI. 9) is
Fig. 1 WalkerEvans,
a potentimageof a particularly
American
GasStation,Reedsville,
versionof the conditionof alienation.It
WestVirginia,1936,
is in no senseto be understood
as "symphotograph.
American
life
in
bolizing"
general:the
gas stationdoes not "standfor" some
transcendent
idea beyondits own existencein the sensethatthewitheredtree
in CasparDavidFriedrich's
OldOakin
MorningLightstandsforsomeidealike
"heroic endurance,"a symbolicresonancereinforcedbypoeticlightandsuggestivelyinfinitedistances.Rather,Hopper, a realist,workswiththe rhetorical
deviceof synecdoche,thesubstitution
of
a concretepartfor an equallyconcrete
whole.Thepowerof the paintinglies in
its abilityto convinceon the levelof the
of the
factual,in itstersevisualrendering
evocativein theeveryday,
of thatwhichis
while
glimpsedand brieflyremembered
passingthrough.YetHopper'sversionof
the factualis not characterized
by the Fig. I
thealmostpicturesque
singularity,
particularization
andpathos,of the documen- isolationof self fromcommunity-from facts. Hopper's trees are less trees than
Evans(Fig.1), a sharedpresent.Nootherhumanbeings, theyare undefinedscrub, scrubthatin its
taryphotograph
byWalker
whichspecifiesa kindof rootednessin a no otherhouses,notevena passingcar perspective ordinance leads away from
Al- the major motif of gas station and atof relationship.
specificregion,class,or socialstyle.
suggestthepossibility
WhatHopper'sGasevokesis, on the thoughGaspresentsus witha fragment tendantratherthan protectivelyenclosing
kindof root- of experience,it is in no sense the in- it. The attendant,in turn, is cut off from
contrary,a thoroughgoing
lessness:alienationseizedunderthe as- stantane of the Impressionist
fragment, his shelter by the mechanicallyregular
timeandplacewhich momentarily
wrenchedfromitsvitalcon- succession of pumps. And, ultimately,
pectof a particular
is yetpartof a largerAmerican
alienation. text;thestaticcomposition,
thefirmdraw- since Gas is, in some sense at anyrate, a
Firstof all,Hopper'simagebodiesfortha ing,thedensetextureof theworksuggest work scene like Millet'sSower and its ilk
fromhistory
senseof alienation
asa shared a morepermanent
of experi- from the nineteenth century, one might
disjunction
theAmeri- ence.Thirdly,
alienation
central
to
Gassuggeststhealienation say thatHopperhas, perhapsunconsciouspast-an
cans' experiencingtheirown condition of theman-made
andhumanrealmsfrom ly, bodiedforththe alienationof theworker
as a purelycontemporary
one, without the realmof nature,unlikethecondition from the instrumentsand productsof his
roots in a continuumof tradition.Sec- representedin nineteenth-century
work labor, in an offhandand unemphatic-or
the
embodies
an
obvious
like
in
scenes
which
nature
Millet's
Sower,
image
ondly,
emphaticallynon-social-realist-way. Itis
providedthe setting,the encompassing not merely that his "worker"is not enPlates appear on pp. 118 -24
space for bothhumanactivityand arti- gaged in a primaryrelationshipwith the
136

ArtJournal

Fig. 2

anotheraspectof Manet'sachievement:
theisolatedfemalefiguresunkenintoher
ownworldof reverie,as in thelatter'sLa
Prune.YetManet's
Pruneis redeemed
by
artifice,whichmakesthe figureat once
attractiveand bringsit up
decoratively
towardsthesurfaceof thecanvas,towards
thespectator.
Enframed
Fig. 3 Hopper.Automat,
byelegantshapes
of relatedpinkandpurple,Manet'ssitter
1927. oil on canlas,
28 /, .x36'. Des Moines
is seductively
isolatedforourdelectation
ArtCenter,JamesD.
as connoisseursof shape,texture,and
Edmtlundson
Fund.
taste-by coloranddesignas wellas by
1958.
provocative
femininity.
decidedly
Although
alone,she is savedfromvulnerability
by
Thespace,andthe
style,evenstylishness.
Automat
situation,suggested
byHopper's
is farbleaker:the rowsof artificial
lights
reflectedin the blackenedglassleadnoFig.3
or psychologically;
where,compositionally
thechairin theforeground
is empty.This
sower: chargedwitha messageof nobleendur- peculiarlyAmerican
kindof bleaknessis
soil, as is the nineteenth-century
he is notevenrepresented
doinghisown ance. Hopper's"worker,"a manwitha emphasizedby the unadorned,feckless
kindof work-filling up a car.Notonly rakeratherthana hoe,suggests
of
notmerely radiatorto theleft,thewaxyregularities
is thestatic,frozen,anonymous
of laborerfrom natural the fruitbowl,and the masklikeincomfigurecut an amputation
offfromthenaturalworldandfrompro- settingbymeansofsuburban
of thegirlherself.Thecoldlight
architecture,municado
ductivework,butwe, thespectators,
are but, throughthe deviceof imprisoningand the harshangleof vision,if not the
deniedaccessto the actualnatureof his rectanglesof windowsand doorframes, figurestyle and the self-consciouspoiverticalsof the thedistancing
of thefigurefromthespec- gnancyof Hopper'simage,lookforward
activity.Thedominating
hide
tator
his
without
a
inarticulate
form
releasein to such chillyicons of Americanmass
frail,
gaspumps
compensatory
andveilhisgesture,denyingusthemean- background
andits mechanized
blandsweepof skyandvista.Hence, consumerism
thereis a kindof radicalimprisonment
of ness as worksby RobertBechtleandto
ingof his act.
It is interestingto note how oftena the static,energylessfigurein his drab thePhoto-Realists
farmorethan
generally
senseof impotenceandof disconnection environment,
unredeemed
for
by accentsof theylookbackto theFrenchtradition
of the humanfigurefromboththeardu- the heroic.Onthecontrary,
workis here suchthemes.
ousnessandthenarrative
of conceivedof quiteliterallyas a kindof
implications
Hopperexploredthesexuallycharged
laboroccurin Hopper'srepresentationsstill-lifesubject.
yet ultimatelysterile mysteriesof the
of work,for example,in Pennsylvania The spaces of urbanrecreationare urbanwork scene as well as the city's
CoalTownof 1947(Fig.2). Anineteenth-equally,forHopper,thelociof alienation. night spots. In Office at Night of 1940
Manwith Notforhimthenoisy,populated,
centurylaborscenelikeMillet's
irregular (PI. 10), the rectangulartightnessof
the Hoe suggestsa kind of brutalyet worldof urbanenjoyments
structure
andthe
represented
by Hopper'scompositional
heroicembeddedness
inthenatural
world Manetandthe Impressionists.
of his figurestend
Rather,in rigidself-containment
and a fate that,howeveroppressive,is Automatof 1927(Fig. 3) he drawson to makeDegas'sofficescene,theso-called

Fig. 2 Hopper.
CoalTown,
Pennsylvania
1947. oil on canvas.
28x 40' . Youngstown.
Ohio.TheButlerInstitute
oj/AmericanArt.

Summer 1981

137

Fig. 4

Sulkingof 1869-71,towhichit is related,

Fig. 4 Hopper,
look like a sort of baroquemelodrama,
Illustration
jbr Carroll
overtones.OfD. Murphy,"Buying
repletewithpsychosexual
ficework,thewhite-collar
condition,had
MorewithEach
oftenbeenexaminedin theliterature
and
System,
Wage-Dollar,"
the sociologyof the thirties,forties,and
xviii,March1913.
fiftiesas thesituationin whichtheconditionof alienationreacheditsmostclassic
Roomin
Fig. 5 Hopper.
form.InOfficeat Night,Hopperturnsto
Brooklyn,1932, oil on
thelanguageof moderncommerceto pin
canvas,29 x 34".
downits hollowness,so to speak.Yetin a
Boston,MuseumofFine
more generalsense, we mightbe more
Henri
Arts,Charles
correctto saythatHopperhasdistanced
HaydenFund
himselfat once fromthe European
past.
from his own sensuality,and fromthe
narrativechattinessof his owncommercial art(Fig. 4) bya veryparticular
sort
of pictorialabstraction.
Thisabstraction,
farfrombeingpurelyformalor aesthetic
in its motivations,
seemsto me to derive
fromhis need to cut himselfoff, on his
ownterms,bothfromtheEuropean
traditionof highartthatlayin his pastand
fromhisvocational
connectionto thelow
artof commercialillustration
andadverFig. 5
tisingimagery.Theresultis a peculiarly
Americankind of high-artstyle thatis
distinctivelyHopper'sin its qualityof tial shorthand,andits coy, puritanstiff- talk,to makecontact.That,in Hopper's
willedsterility-thefunctionof analiena- nessof contour,whicharepreciselywhat terms,is thefalsehoodof theillustrative,
tionthatis asmucha quality
of itsmaker's we readas "Americanness"
in his work. which,it wouldseem,couldonlytelllies
of humanconnecthoversaboutthe edgesof the aboutthepossibilities
visionas of itssubjects'
objective Narrative
rejective
situationsrepresentedin workslike Of- edness,justas Frenchartcouldonlybe
condition.
AmeriCommercial
art,muchas Hoppermay fice at Night, makingitself felt in the misleadingaboutthedistinctively
of an exaggeratedcanqualityof thenationalreality.
haveovertlyrenouncedit in his painting, erotic suggestiveness
A sense of this self-imposed
isolation
was in manyways at the heartof this buttock,the verticalrigidityof a desk
himself lamp,theominousyetinnocentpatterningis suggestedby thewaythatHopperdevision.Itis truethatin distancing
formulas of light and shadowin this closed-off liberatelyremovesthe implicationsof
fromits cornyandunaesthetic
or releasefromthetradiforAmerican
experiencehe erectedbar- interior-even in theunaskedandunan- transcendence
to the swerablequestionof whetherthewoman tionalEuropeanmotifof the womanat
formalintensity
riersof undoubted
that will stoop over to pick up the piece of the window.In CasparDavidFriedrich's
socialintercourse
kindof inauthentic
we sharethespace
commercialartdepicted.Yethe retained paperhalf-hiddenbehindthe desk.But Womanat a Window,
sharethetension
itsspa- the figuresmaynevercome togetherto of theviewerandthereby
vestigesof itsfiguralconventions,
138

ArtJournal

Hg. 6

Fig. 6Hopper,City
Sunlight,1954,oil on
canvas.Washington,
D.C.,Hirshhorn
Museumand Sculpture
Garden,Smithsonian
Institution.
Girlie
Fig. 7 Hopper,
Show,1941,oil on
canvas,32 x38".
Privatecollection.

identifiedwiththe act of viewingthemselves. Windowsand the shapeof light

from windowstend to lock the static
interiorconfiguresintoplace,repeating
ratherthanoffering
alternatives
figurations
to them.No openingvistasofferrelease
here. It is perhapsto Ingres'swomen
enclosedin the harem,existingfor the
visual delightof the viewer-possessor,
in aninterior
womenwhoseconfinement
addsto the fantasypleasureaffordedby
theimageof naked,feminine
vulnerability,
thatone mightlookforprecedent
hereis a puritan's
harem.
exceptthatHopper's
Nordoes the presenceof the couple
to the emotionalor
offer an alternative
existential
bleakness
proposed
bythesingle
theveryproximity
figures.Onthecontrary,
of manandwomanseemsto suggesteven
a moreunbridgeable
Fig. 7
greaterisolation,
gap
or lackof communication.
Seenthrough
a
window,from outsidelookingin, the
she experiencesas she hoversbetween the room,like the tableor the vase,or couple in Room in New York(PI. 7)
a
the dark, confiningworldof shuttered evenliketherectangleof lightthatsubtly suggestsCamus'simageof theAbsurd:
home and the light-filledvision of the echoesher softershapeandtherebyan- talkingfigureseenthroughtheglassdoor
of a telephonebooth,so thatthe movenatural-and supernatural-worldbe- chorsit to its place.
has suggested, mentsof his mouthandhis gesturesapIf, as BrianO'Doherty
yondits confines,whichis attheheartof
thatviewersfeelinHopper's pear meaningless.YetHopper'sfigures
thistopos.Thethemeis carriedon in the thealienation
laternineteenthcentury,in a moresecu- picturesis not the simplealienationof can nevereventalk:theyareenclosedin
larizedand urbanform, it is true, in humanbeingsfromeachotherbutof indi- their own poses, spaces,and, presumthenhis charac- ably, innerreveries.Sex seems to lead
Parisianyearneras vidualsfromthemselves,
GustaveCaillebotte's
wellas in Henrivande Velde'sversionof teristicimagesof womenin interiorsem- not to closenessbut to its opposite,as
in itsmost Hoppermakesa littletoo obviousin the
thethemewithits seductivevistaof open bodythatdistinctive
perception
form.Inworks motifandrepeatedrectangular
Thevista distilledandquintessential
roadandlight-filled
rigidities
villagescape.
in Hopper's
Roomin Brooklyn(Fig. 5), likeElevenA.M.of 1926(PI. 3), Morning of Excursioninto Philosophy(PI. 14),
so explicit
is blocked.Wearerooted Sun of 1952 (Pt. 13), CitySunlightof a paintingso premeditated,
on thecontrary,
to the interiorspacebythe artist'scom- 1954(Fig. 6), orAWomanin theSunof aboutwhatoughtto be implicit-i.e. the
of hushed visualanalogybetweenopen book and
positionalstrategies:a carefullyplaced 1961(PI. 16), an atmosphere
vase here,a blockof sunlightthere.Far eroticismintersectswiththe imageryof buttocks-thatone turnsin reliefto the
and subtler
withtheoutward-directedisolation,withthe nudeor seminudefig- more humanirregularities
fromidentifying
we
from
the
distanced
of
the
work's
lineal
descendthe
ures
viewed
of
woman
at
the
window,
vantage disposition
yearning
tendto see her as one of the fixturesof point of the voyeurratherthan being ant,GeorgeSegal'sCoupleon a Bed of
Summer 1981

139

Fg. 8

1965, wherethe artisthas merelysugSoirBleu,

Fig. 8 Hopper,
gestedwhatHopperhasso painstakingly
1914, oil on canvas,
spelledout.
York,
36x 72'. Neuw
Indeed,in manyof thesewomen-or
Museumof
Whitney,
American
couples-within-an-interior
paintingsof
Art,Bequest
of
thefortiesandfifties,Hopperoftentends
N Hopper.
Josephine
to lapseintoa kindof formulaic
reduction,
on
resortingto a conventionfor depicting
Fig. 9 Degas,Women
alienationin whichmereisolationof the
theTerrace
of a Cafeat
structure
of composifigureandsimplified
Night,1877- 78.Paris,
tion,withan accompanying
Louvre.
aridityof surface, "standsfor"the modernexistential
condition.Inmanyof theseworks,abandonmentof riskleadsto a certainlossof
whichreduces,
energy,evento a sterility,
ratherthancoincideswith,themoodand
contentof the pictures.Alienation,
when
reducedtoformula,
seemstometohaveno
statusasa subject
for
particularly
privileged
thetwentieth-century
artist-no morethan
Fig. 9
doesconviviality
or socialoptimism.
Yetthereis a groupof worksrunning
fromthe thirtiesto the sixtiesin which earlyas his firstambitiouspainting,
Soir his vulnerability
to publicopprobrium,
Bleu
of
from
this
isoidentifies
and his emotionalrisk-taking-apecu1914
8),
Hopperdepartsradically
(Fig.
Hopper
Frenchmotif,it
motif,takesrisks, the artistwiththe low-classpublicper- liarlynineteenth-century
lated-figure-in-a-room
bothas anartist former.In this work,whichtransforms mustbe added-was usedbyHopperin
exposeshisvulnerability
andas a humanbeingin waysthatI find Degas'scafeformat(Fig.9) intoa solemn a differentcontextin hisFrenchSix-Day
fortheexpressionof personal Bicycle Racer of 1937 (Fig. 10). Of
visuallyexcitingas well as emotionally scaffolding
poignantandcomplex.Chiefamongthese and socialmeanings,Hopperclearlyes- course, the imageof the actor,isolated
thatof thepimp and vulnerable,offeringhis body, as
paintingsis thevividGirlieShowof 1941 tablishesthreegroupings:
in the Christ
orunfriendly
did,beforeanuncaring
(Fig. 7), animagedrawnfromtheworld to the left;thatof the performers
of vulgar,contemporary
sexualentertain- center;andthatof theindifferent,
can
be
traced
backto
wealthy crowd,
ultimately
Gillesin theeighteenth
ment, but obviouslyfar awayfromthe couple to the right.The artistfigure, Watteau's
century.
raucous coarsenessof such American identifiableby his beret,is significantlyYetin GirlieShow,Hopperintensifies
this
Scenerenditionsof the samesubjectas split in half-half in the worldof the imageof theperformer-artist
asvulnerable
ReginaldMarsh'sMinsky'sChorusof pimp,halfinthatoftheperformers-over- creaturewhoexposesherselfto thepublic
a complex lappingthesensually
vertical
ofthe by meansof the sheer eroticismof his
1935.It wouldbe simplifying
charged
issue to saythatHoppersees thisnaked standingprostituteor chorusgirl and subject.Indeed,it is precisely
theextraorburlesquedancer as a symbolof the facinghis alterego, theisolatedclown. dinarysexinessof the imagethatis an
artist,andevenmoreincorrectto define The topos of the performer,isolated essentialingredientof the riskinessthe workas a kindof self-image.Never- behindthescenes,as a poignantimageof hencetheinterestingness,
theslow-burnto realizethatas theartisthimself,embodying
hisstruggle, ing excitement-of this painting.In a
theless,it is important
140

ArtJournal

French
Fig. 10 Hopper,
10
BicycleRacer, Fg.
Six-Day
1937,oil on canvas,
Mr. sense,theburlesquedanceris theperfect wedgelikethrustintothesecuritiesof the
17x 19". Collection
ofthesituation
ofthecreative half-glimpsedinteriorworld. Here we
andMrs.AlbertHackett. embodiment
artistin general:that exposureof the have a daringthat is both visual and
isolated,nakedself understronglight phenomenological.
or eventhreatening Van Goghin the nineteenthcentury
beforean indifferent
of whatone hadusedtheimageof a roomasa metoncrowd;thatjauntyrevelation
selfitwas
to
hide
is what ymicreferencefortheyearning
choose
rather
mightreally
The
Bedroom
to
contain.
Nor
is
this
meant
demands.
an
artist
atArles,
figure
being
young.Thestringylegs andhaggardface filledwithpoignantreferencesto theartbreasts. ist's needsanddesires,is a kindof selfbeliethefirmnessof thethrusting
In GirlieShow, Hopperhas inventeda portrait,in whichVanGoghchargesa
unitesthe intensity domesticinteriorwiththetaskof bodying
figurethatbrilliantly
desireswithhis sense fortha stateof being.Hopperin thetwenof his middle-aged
of middle-ageddesperation.The erotic tieth century,in a quite differentway,
goalwithhis
impulse,releasedfromthe constrictions achievedthesameexpressive
of protectiveformula,herefunctionsas a far emptierroom,althoughperhapshe
potentstrategyof riskin theinventionof meantnothingas overtlypersonalby it.
whenaskedabouttheempty
an imageof alienationthatis daringand Nevertheless,
are
with
Brian
the
an
at
same
time, image
O'Doherty-"What
room-by
moving
feels youafterin it?"Hopperreplied,"I'mafter
whichHopper,thepainter,obviously
a deepempathy.
ME,"witha slightsmileto taketheexasan explicit
If Hoppercouldescapefromthe ba- perationaway.In abandoning
in
of
alienation
outoverworked
of
woman
but
formula
imagery
by moving
nality
side thetypically
confiningroom,he also favorof somethingriskierandmoreuntheroom certain,Hopperseemsto haveparadoxcouldbe inventive
byemptying
of womanthroughan imageryof sheer icallyfoundhismostpowerful
equivalences
emptiness.BothRooms by the Sea of for an authenticsense of isolationand
End
1951 (PI. 12) and Sun in an Empty impending
nothingness.
Roomof 1963(Pl. 17) arebasedon the
simplestingredients:space, walls, air,
light,water.Themoodof eachis distincenclotive:a kindof mellow,melancholy
in Sun
sure,austerein its reductiveness,
in an EmptyRoomversusanexhilarating
senseof beingon thebrinkinRoomsby
theSea.Inthelatter,thereis thethrilling
call of the sea, a vividtrapezoidof blue
overthethreshhold-sirenandthreatat
once-and lightforcingits waywith a
Summer 1981

141