20th century American art is richer than one assumes. The Ash can school cubism, precionism, biomorphism etc. One of the big movements was regionalism lead by Edward Hopper. But people often forget that Hopper didn't only paint landscapes, street scenes and light but also nudes. Naked women were not just tools on which light reflected itself; they were real entities that deserve to be studied. One can find in them, Degas's inspiration; let's take a closer look. Born in France, Degas studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After that he went to Italy where he stayed for five years, studying and copying meticulously the old masters of the Renaissance. His decision to study the old masters was typical to his personality which was that of a perfectionist. His favorite subjects were scenes from the world of entertainment and later from everyday life. Ballet dancers, women in intimate situations and horse races are immediately associated with him. In contrast to his impressionist colleagues, he preferred to work in a studio. His talents were numerous: painting, drawing, sculpture…
[...] For Degas, it is almost always about action: “drying her “stretching and “wiping her foot”. Hoper focuses on the light: That's why he is more about women standing still. What is a better surface than a flat one to represent the reflection of the light? Finally, the only time when Hopper meant to represent movement, was a drawing, Windy Evening and the movement was really more in the curtains than in the body. It's a light movement, due to a breeze; it's about waves, fabrics undulating with the wind. [...]
[...] Here, there is nothing but lines, more precisely triangles (see Annex) But still, an undeniable influence of Degas in Hopper's work Sheena Wagstaff wrote that Hopper's early work, Summer Interior, was vignette of erotic tension, it is a crowded framework of interlocked planar forms, abrupt diagonals and tilted floor where a woman is slumped on a tangle of sheets, her foot dipping into a rectangular pool of reflected light” The painting acknowledges a particular influence of Degas through which Hopper determined some of the basic elements of his formal vocabulary. [...]
[...] Instead of the usual lines and angles, which we have gotten used to seeing in his work, he followed Degas's trait of adding curves. Despite all the similarities, one can still say that it is his masterpiece and not Degas's. The colours used are brighter and colder; Degas uses mainly shades of red. The space is empty so that the audience can focus on the body. On the other hand, Degas's Reclining Nude has more elements to disturb the eye, such as the lamp. [...]
[...] To the contrary, Hopper uses a distant view which he compensates for with the empty spaces in which the women are represented (except for Reclining Nude). Colours: Here we need to remember why there are differences. Hopper innovated by painting his canvas in white. Therefore, his paintings seem less dark than Degas', which have mainly warm colours (red, brown etc.). But there is also another difference. Degas mixes colour types; with a tendency to use warm colours, there is also always a blue, white or a yellow spot. [...]
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