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Edward Hopper
House at Dusk, 1935
Edward Hopper's evocative pictures of modern America's have a haunting appeal, so firmly are they embedded in the cultural imagination. House at Dusk, imbued with the artist's defining themes of temporarily and ambiguity, is one of the strongest and most lyrical oils of his mature career. The scene is set at the "exquisite hour" of dusk, that most transitional time of day. As in many of his works, Hopper introduces a suspenseful narrative element with the figure of a woman silhouetted by artificial light, seemingly unaware of the subtle afterglow taking place behind her apartment house.
House at Dusk was purchased by VMFA for $4,000 in 1953. Acquired sixteen years after the artist served as a juror for the museum's first biennial exhibition, the painting was recommended by not less an authority on contemporary painting that Alfred Barr, then the director of New York's Museum of Modern Art. |