'Framed: A Journey Into Edward Hopper's America' is a road trip into art history.

A young Australian doctor, raised in America, redefines the country he grew up in by traveling America's two lane roads from coast to coast. His method: to see in person all of the work of Edward Hopper, the ever-popular and quintessentially American painter. The journey throws into stark contrast the changes to America's social fabric since Hopper's time and even since the author's childhood.

Amidst this turmoil, Hopper's portrayals of urban and rural America capture an ineffable American quality. His pictures could be of any American street, in any time. But what is that quality which makes America, America?

On a return trip to Washington during medical school, the author sees an Edward Hopper picture in person for the first time and realizes how to solve the riddle. Meeting all of his pictures, he would find in each a slightly different rendition of that American quality.

Each of these pictures has been loved by its own group of Americans, who saw in it their own idea of America, and whose stories haven't been told. Surrounding each picture would be a different corner of this diverse country which, of course, can only be understood by being seen.

Thus begins an epic journey over two years from Los Angeles to Boston, to see the largest Hopper retrospective to date, and back west to Seattle. Braving the vast expanses of America's back roads, we visit an eclectic group of museums and private collections.

We visit the forgotten, decaying cities of the Rust Belt: Utica, Buffalo, Huntington. We drive the rural backwaters of Florida's panhandle and see Amish towns nestled in the corn fields of southern Indiana. The pride of these places, their indifference to defeat, is in stark contrast to the Disney-like 'preservation' of Main Streets across America.

Edward Hopper captured the authenticity of America in his pictures. It is now increasingly undervalued, almost lost. Now more than ever, Hopper's pictures hold the key to understanding the inherent conflict in the American identity between old and new, between revolution and conservatism, to understanding how a country which elected Barack Obama could four years later choose Donald Trump.

Each Hopper picture has taken a unique road to get where it is today. They are journeys of devotion, luck, betrayal and whimsy. Collectively, they tell the story of Edward Hopper's career, including the neglected stories of the key benefactors and museums who promoted him. More broadly, they tell the story of modern America during and since Hopper's time.

Reading Hopper's correspondence and the reminiscences of his friends in locked archives and quiet libraries, we discover that Hopper, while given to isolation, was not lonely, as he is commonly stereotyped. We see his pictures in person, in dark basement storage rooms, sumptuous waterside mansions and packed city museums. Each encounter is like meeting a new friend.

We rediscover Hopper's forgotten watercolors and minor oils, their freshness and vibrancy literally hidden from the light in vaults across the country. The feelings of alienation from looking at a narrow spectrum of Hopper reproductions are replaced by sympathy and companionship in person.

A spiritual element to the journey builds as the author returns west, battling loneliness on the long empty roads. The searching sunlight of Hopper's pictures becomes an overriding theme. The light symbolized Hopper's personality and refracted his scenes: cool, clear, a light that believes in you. 'It's as if Hopper was saying that this figurative light is always around if you just look for it. That the light is, in fact, everywhere.'

 

Details

ISBN: 9780994388124
Audience: General
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 252
Publication Date: 1 Oct 2019
Publisher: Exceller Imaging
Dimensions (cm): 28(H) x 21.6(L) x 2.1(W)
Weight (gm): 1080

 

Reviews

'Framed: A Journey Into Edward Hopper's America has much charm and the freshness of inspired amateurism...Hopper was an artist deeply engaged with the condition of America as he found it, neither idealising nor romanticising it. Newcombe's journey through the heartland of provincial America - Hopper country - can bear witness to the reality of his vision.'

Patrick McCaughey, former director, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

The Weekend Australian Review, 8th February 2020

'Newcombe got it. That's Edward Hopper.'

Barney Ebsworth, Private Collector

Seattle, Washington

'This research will introduce many art lovers to cherished works by Hopper that are probably in their own backyards, among the museum treasures throughout the US.'

Martha Fleischman, Director

Kennedy Galleries, New York

'I enjoyed reading the manuscript. It is clearly written and conveys Newcombe's enthusiasm for the artist.'

Helen Cooper, Holcombe T. Green Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

'It was a very enjoyable way to read about Hopper's work and Newcombe's impressions of each as he encountered them.'

Margaret Bullock, Curator of Collections and Special Exhibitions

Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington

'I found it to be entertaining as well as informative. I found the writing to be of a consistently high quality.'

Larry Miller, Works on Paper Specialist

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia

'Hopper's scratching his head about Newcombe now, perhaps pleasantly so. I'm sure he's been doing that for awhile, as his art has inspired many voices over the years.'

Margaret Ausfeld, Senior Curator

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama

'I enjoyed this book. Clearly, the writer did a good deal of research and interviewing, as well as travel, and that is always interesting and useful for the reader.'

Franklin Robinson, Immediate Past Director

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

'Newcombe has written an accurate and interesting section on the history of our watercolor and we do thank him.'

Carol Gillham, Assistant Curator

Ackland Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

'The manuscript is interesting. I learned a lot, not only about the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of our painting but also the early days of the Fogg Museum. Travel is an engaging theme.'

Peter Timms, Director

Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, Massachusetts

'A very enjoyable adventure to experience through Newcombe's words and eyes.'

Louise Lippincott, Curator and Director of Fine Arts

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

'What a great project. I wonder how many people will retrace this route.'

Lisa Petrulis, Curator of Collections and Exhibits

Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana

 

Author Biography

James Newcombe was born in Papua New Guinea and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. He moved to Australia at the age of eighteen where he attained degrees in Medical Science, Public Health and Medicine before completing postgraduate training in Paediatrics, Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology. He is a regular contributor to the medical and scientific literature and is a medical consultant for network television series in Australia. He lives in Sydney. This is his first book.