Lot Essay
Edward Hopper spent part of the summer of 1926 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he executed several notable watercolors, including Davis House (Davis House, Gloucester). These watercolors explore the unique, vernacular architecture of this New England fishing community, which the artist found useful for its expressive potential. Hopper first achieved success in the medium of watercolor when he painted in Gloucester several years earlier in 1923. When these works were exhibited the following year in New York, they achieved considerable critical acclaim. The successes from 1923 and from other works executed in 1924 may have prompted the artist to revisit the town in 1926 and again take up watercolor.
While painting in Gloucester Hopper avoided the conventional subject matter associated with the busy commercial fishing port and instead looked inward to the town's simple neighborhoods. He noted that while other artists were painting the waterfront, he preferred to look at the town's houses and to observe the effects of light and shadow on their various architectural details, which he found bold and striking. Of Hopper's interest in Gloucester architecture, L. Goodrich wrote, "He liked the spare New England character of this seaside town; the white wooden houses and churches of the early years, their puritan severity sometimes relieved by jigsaw ornamentation; or the more ambitious flamboyant mansions of the late nineteenth century with their mansard roofs, wide-spreading porches, and jutting dormers and bow windows . . . Like every realist, Hopper loved character, and these varied structures were as exactly characterized as a portrait painter's sitters. And above all, he loved the play of sunlight and shadow on their forms, the way a white-painted clapboard wall looked under the baking summer sun . . . Hopper was painting an honest portrait of an American town, with all its native character its familiar ugliness and beauties . . . He preferred American architecture in its unashamed provincial phases, growing out of the character of the people." (Edward Hopper, New York, 1971, p. 53-4)
In Davis House (Davis House, Gloucester) Hopper focuses on the building itself--as well as the vivid light that illuminates the composition. He uses bold areas of light and shadow to emphasize the structure's individual characteristics, such as its cornices, railings and shutters. These elements impart a sense of rugged individualism to the building. At the same time, the stone and iron railing that runs across the foreground isolates the structure and suggests a monumental quality.
An entry in the artist's record book I, p. 64 records the work as: "Davis House, Middle St., yellow, sunlight on house & tree. Gloucester."
This watercolor was executed in 1926 and was delivered to Rehn Gallery for sale by August 15, 1926. (G. Levin, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, p. 31)
While painting in Gloucester Hopper avoided the conventional subject matter associated with the busy commercial fishing port and instead looked inward to the town's simple neighborhoods. He noted that while other artists were painting the waterfront, he preferred to look at the town's houses and to observe the effects of light and shadow on their various architectural details, which he found bold and striking. Of Hopper's interest in Gloucester architecture, L. Goodrich wrote, "He liked the spare New England character of this seaside town; the white wooden houses and churches of the early years, their puritan severity sometimes relieved by jigsaw ornamentation; or the more ambitious flamboyant mansions of the late nineteenth century with their mansard roofs, wide-spreading porches, and jutting dormers and bow windows . . . Like every realist, Hopper loved character, and these varied structures were as exactly characterized as a portrait painter's sitters. And above all, he loved the play of sunlight and shadow on their forms, the way a white-painted clapboard wall looked under the baking summer sun . . . Hopper was painting an honest portrait of an American town, with all its native character its familiar ugliness and beauties . . . He preferred American architecture in its unashamed provincial phases, growing out of the character of the people." (Edward Hopper, New York, 1971, p. 53-4)
In Davis House (Davis House, Gloucester) Hopper focuses on the building itself--as well as the vivid light that illuminates the composition. He uses bold areas of light and shadow to emphasize the structure's individual characteristics, such as its cornices, railings and shutters. These elements impart a sense of rugged individualism to the building. At the same time, the stone and iron railing that runs across the foreground isolates the structure and suggests a monumental quality.
An entry in the artist's record book I, p. 64 records the work as: "Davis House, Middle St., yellow, sunlight on house & tree. Gloucester."
This watercolor was executed in 1926 and was delivered to Rehn Gallery for sale by August 15, 1926. (G. Levin, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, p. 31)