Edward Hopper - ACE102.2

Ron Peck looking through book of photographs and reproductions and talking about where to start his project as so many people were already dead and all papers were in New York. Drawing on conversations between Ron Peck, the film-maker, and Gail Levin, curator of the Edward Hopper Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Rooms in the Whitney Museum. VO describing the work done by Gail Levin, and the materials in the collection, the quantity of which "got in the way of looking at the paintings". Hotel Room (1931). Western Motel (1957). Nighthawks (1942). Details. VO says this is the first Hopper painting Peck had ever seen, and remarks that Hopper talked about painting light, rather than having any emotional connection with the subject. Peck talking to Gail Levin while looking at press cuttings. She talks about his paintings being rejected by a number of galleries. Peck is attracted by the "ordinariness" of Hopper’s work. Part of the car ride between Manhattan and Nyack – George Washington Bridge and Palisades Parkway. VO gives information on Hopper’s art training and early work. Examples of paintings from his student days, influenced by the work of his teacher, Robert Henri: including Blond Woman before an Easel (1903-1906) and Artist’s Bedroom (c.1905-1906). Nyack. Peck and Levin VOs talking about the town, and Hopper’s feelings about it.