Night Shadows

Edward Hopper's haunting Night Shadows is a view of a quiet city street, seen from above and on an oblique angle, on which a man, trailed only by his shadow, walks towards a deserted corner. In front of him, a long strip of dark shadow cast by the pole of an unseen streetlight traverses the pavement diagonally; on the building façade, the shadow assumes a dark, hulking shape. Hopper placed this solitary pedestrian in a typical American urban setting, with a corner drugstore beneath a trio of second-story striped awnings, a fire hydrant, and a streetlight. Yet the image is somewhat unnerving. The dramatic aerial perspective and the looming shadow across the walker's path convey the sense of insignificance and lonely isolation a city-dweller might feel in a city of strangers.

This print, along with Night in the Park (TF 1995.39), helped define Hopper's distinctive style of urban realism and proclaimed his graphic virtuosity. Shortly after Night Shadows was made it was shown in exhibitions hosted by New York's National Academy of Design and the Chicago Society of Etchers, as well as in the First International Exhibition of Etching, organized by the Brooklyn Society of Etchers in 1922. Although Hopper usually printed all his etchings himself, he permitted the etching plate for Night Shadows to be steel-plated to make it more durable, so that more than five hundred impressions could be printed for the "American Etchings" portfolio published by the New Republic magazine in December 1924.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form). [exh. cat.]

L'héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820-1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820-1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]

La Ville Magique (The Magical City), Lille Métropole Musée d'Art Moderne d'Art Contemporain et d'Art Brut, Lille, France (organizer). Venue: Lille Métropole Musée d'Art Moderne d'Art Contemporain et d'Art Brut, Lille, France, September 29, 2012–January 15, 2013. [exh. cat.]

America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK (organizers.) Venue: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, UK, March 23, 2018–July 22, 2018 [exh. cat.]

Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945, Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art (organizers). Venue:  Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, September 28, 2018–January 6, 2019.  [exh. cat.]

In the Streets: Modern Life and Urban Experiences in the Art of the United States, 1893-1976 (Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893–1976). Terra Foundation for American Art and Pinacoteca de São Paulo (organizers). Venue: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 2022–January 30, 2023. [exh. cat.]

     

Zigrosser, Carl. "The Etchings of Edward Hopper." In Prints: Thirteen Illustrated Essays on the Art of the Print Selected for the Print Council of America, edited by Carl Zigrosser. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962. No. 22, pp. 155–73.

Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: The Complete Prints. (exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art). New York and London, England: W. W. Norton & Company in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1979. Text p. 10; pl. 82.

Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist. (exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art). New York and London, England: W. W. Norton & Company in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1980. Text p. 20; fig. 22.

Hobbs, Robert. Edward Hopper. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers in association with The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1987. Text p. 56, 58; ill.

The Gloria and Donald B. Marron Collection of American Prints. (exh. cat., Santa Barbara Museum of Art). Santa Barbara, California: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1981. No. 37, pp. 64–65.

Jacobowitz, Ellen S. and George H. Marcus. American Graphics 1860–1940, Selected from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982. No. 53, p. 56.

Watrous, James. American Printmaking: A Century of American Printmaking, 1880–1980. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984. Fig. 3.18, p. 63.

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text pp. 16, 25 (checklist); fig. 14, p. 16 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text pp. 16, 25 (checklist); fig. 14, p. 16 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

 Cartwright, Derrick R. The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2001. Text p. 23 (checklist). [specific reference to Terra print]

Cartwright, Derrick R. L'Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2001. Text p. 23 (checklist). [specific reference to Terra print]

La Ville Magique. (exh. cat., Lille Métropole Musée d'Art Moderne d'Art Contemporain et d'Art Brut). Lille, France: Lille Métropole Musée d'Art Moderne d'Art Contemporain et d'Art Brut and Editions Gaillmard, 2012. Ill. cat. no. 131, p. 63 (color).]

Bourguignon, Katherine M., Lauren Kroiz, and Leo G. Mazow. America’s Cool Modernism: O’Keeffe to Hopper. Oxford, United Kingdom: Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology–University of Oxford, 2018. Ill. p. 139, cat. no. 39 (color).

Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865-1945. (exh. cat. Shanghai Museum with Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art). Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2018. Text p. 170; ill. p. 172 (color).

Piccoli, Valéria, Fernanda Pitta, and Taylor Poulin. Pelas ruas: vida moderna e experiências urbanas na arte dos Estados Unidos, 1893-1976. (exh. cat., Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo and Terra Foundation for American Art). São Paulo, Brazil: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2022. Text p. 13, 60; pl. p. 74 (color).