Product Description

The complete watercolors of arguably America's best and probably America's most "American" artist. This magnificent volume reproduces all of Hopper's 357 watercolor paintings. They were first published in the four-volume catalogue raisonne of the artist's works. Now they are offered at a price that will make them attractive to anyone seriously interested in art. Hopper was comfortable in both oil and watercolor, although his technique with each medium varied considerably. While oils were done in the studio, often from detailed sketches with notations on colors, the watercolors were painted on location and seem far more spontaneous. In the years since Hopper's death in 1967, many of his paintings have achieved iconographic status as statements about this country. His empty cityscapes and countrysides speak of our sense of loneliness and alienation, while his fascination with the light on Cape Cod and the buildings in Gloucester result in the evocation of feelings that can only be described as uniquely American. 350 color plates, with notes and annotations by Gail Levin. Published in association with the Whitney Museum of Art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1580609 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01
• Released on: 2001-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 362 pages

About the Author
Gail Levin is the author of several acclaimed works on Hopper, including Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonne and Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. She lives and teaches in New York City.

Customer Reviews

A feast for Hopper watercolor lovers!
It is exactly what it claims: a"catalog" of all Hopper watercolors, with short notes about each work from the artists' notebook. I appreciate the compact, easy to handle size, and the clean design, yet wish for larger reproductions.(Which explains the 4-star rating.) I was delighted to see many watercolors for the first time. If you are disapointed by the lack of text, get Virginia Mecklenburgs' book on Hopper watercolors...it's as "easy" and wonderful to read as this book is to look at. I look forward to owning the companion, The Complete Paintings of Edward Hopper.

Outstanding
Levin has split her Catalogue Raisonne of Hopper's work into two books with this one containing all the watercolors. I must disagree with other reviewers here regarding their complaints about the size of the images. In my opinion, it's unrealistic to make the images larger without changing the size/format of the book - which matches the companion of Hopper's oil paintings. Besides, this is a complete catalog of all his watercolors and I think it works very well. Don't assume that the images are "tiny"; they fit the pages and hence, I won't downgrade my assessment to match theirs.

Levin has done an outstanding job and I think all Hopper fans will appreciate this book. Highly recommended.

There's nothing like seeing them all together
This would be a 5 star book if the reproductions were just a bit larger, but it's a small complaint. If you like Hopper you will enjoy discovering works you've never seen before. If you're a painter too, you'll like the format: 1 page of introductory text and nothing but reproductions after that! Lots of people are familiar with Hopper's quote "All I ever wanted to paint was sunlight on the side of a house." This is the book that makes you understand what he meant: his mostly on-sight watercolors have a sun drenched quality that his oils didn't catch as often, good as they are. Hard to imagine anyone being disappointed by this book.