The Premise Behind the Picture

After doing a little more reading on Nighthawks, I was pleased to find that Hopper had actually provided something of a background on the painting, which makes it easier to analyse. I read in a book I took out of the library called 'Portraits of America' which explores Hopper's work. In it, he said this about Nighthawks:

It was suggested by a restaurant on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet. I simplified the scene a great deal and made the restaurant bigger. Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.' 

I appreciated this comment he made about his own work, and thought it was very honest. I have noticed after a brief look at what is said about his other works as well, that there seems to be a common bleak theme underneath the picture. People seem to get a sense of sickness, loneliness and death although it is not directly present.

Another thing I read in the book was that Ernest Hemingway was an influence on his piece, due to Hopper's admiration for his work, and in this case especially the short story 'The Killers' which you can find here:

http://www.unz.org/Pub/Scribners-1927mar-00227

This short story is similarly set in a diner, and you can really imagine that short story having taken place in the diner shown in Nighthawks.

Experimental Sound Brief

For this brief we were all given a painting as a starting point to go away and research and use as a base for my project. My first thought was to research the painting, the man behind the painting, and the time that he lived in to gain a full understanding of the painting.

My painting was Nighthawks (1942) by Edward Hopper:

I had a look on a website that presented facts about the painting and the method Hopper takes to this work:

http://totallyhistory.com/nighthawks/

The writer of the article named Hopper as a historian, and that he used painting and drawing as his method for recording history, due to his many works on the state in which he lived in America. I took a look at some of his other paintings as well and I think I agree with that statement:

Gas (1940)

New York Movie (1939)

A few quick notes I made about Nighthawks as my pre-analysis:

• Hopper has a very great consideration of light, and edges in his painting.
• He depicts a night scene at a time when wearing suits and smoking was very fashionable.
• The area surrounding the diner is quite scarce and empty, which I consider odd since nightlife in his home town was surely more populated than that.

Those are my preliminary thoughts for now, though I think I'll do a much more broad search over the next few days.