名人轶事:Edward Hopper's Simple Paintings Hold Special Me

Edward Hopper's Simple Paintings Hold Special Meaning for Americans

VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Doug Johnson with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about artist Edward Hopper. He painted normal objects and people in interesting and mysterious ways.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Edward Hopper's "Cape¹ Cod² Morning" 

In June of two thousand-six, visitors entered the redesigned Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. for the first time. When these people walked into the building, they saw two simple, colorful paintings. These paintings showed normal scenes from American life. But they looked mysterious and beautiful. American artist Edward Hopper painted both of these famous pictures.

VOICE TWO:

Edward Hopper was born in eighteen eighty-two in Nyack, a small town in New York state. From a young age, Edward knew he wanted to be a painter. His parents were not wealthy people. They thought Edward should learn to paint and make prints to advertise for businesses. This kind of painting is called commercial art. Edward listened to his mother and father. In nineteen hundred, he moved to New York City to study commercial art. However, he also studied more serious and artistic³ kinds of painting.

VOICE ONE:

One of Hopper's teachers was Robert Henri, a famous American painter in the early twentieth century. Henri was a leader of a group of artists who called themselves the Ashcan School painters. The Ashcan artists liked to paint normal people and objects in realistic ways. Henri once expressed his ideas about painting this way: "Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you."

Edward Hopper agreed with many of these ideas about art. He told people that Henri was his most important teacher.

VOICE TWO:

Hopper studied with Henri in New York City for six years. During those years, Hopper dreamed of going to Europe. Many painters there were making pictures in ways no one had ever seen before. Many of them had begun to paint pictures they called "abstract⁴." The artists liked to say these works⁵ were about ideas rather than things that existed in the real world. Their paintings did not try to show people and objects that looked like the ones in real life. Most American artists spent time in Europe. Then they returned to the United States to paint in this new way.

VOICE ONE:

With help from his parents, Hopper finally traveled to Europe in nineteen-oh-six. He lived in Paris, France for several months. He returned again in nineteen-oh-nine and nineteen-ten.

Unlike many other people, however, Hopper was not strongly influenced by the new, abstract styles he found there. "Paris had no great or immediate⁶ impact⁷ on me," he once said. At the end of these travels, he decided⁸ that he liked the realistic methods he had learned⁹ from Robert Henri.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

When Edward Hopper returned from Paris for the last time, he moved into a small apartment in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. He took a job making prints and paintings for businesses. However, the paintings he made outside of his job were not helping¹⁰ him earn money or recognition¹¹. He had a show of his work at a gallery in New York. However, most people were not interested in his simple, realistic style. Very few people bought his paintings.

VOICE ONE:

Things began to improve in nineteen twenty-three. He began a love relationship with an artist named Jo Nivison. Soon they married. His wife sometimes said that Edward tried to control her thoughts and actions too much. However, most people who knew them said they loved each other very much. They stayed married for the rest of their lives. Also, Jo was the model for all of the women in Hopper's paintings.

Success in art soon followed this success in love. In nineteen twenty-four, Hopper had the second show of his paintings. This time, he sold many pictures. Finally, at age forty-three, he had enough money to quit his job painting for businesses. He could now paint what he loved. Edward and Jo bought a car and began to travel around the country to find interesting subjects to paint.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

"The House by the Railroad¹²"   

Most people say that Hopper's nineteen twenty-five painting "The House by the Railroad" was his first mature painting. This means that it was the first painting that brought together all of his important techniques and ideas.

"The House by the Railroad" shows a large, white house. The painting does not show the bottom of the house. It is blocked by railroad tracks. Cutting scenes off in surprising ways was an important part of Hopper's style. He became famous for paintings that are mysterious, that look incomplete¹³ or that leave viewers with questions.

Shadows make many parts of the home in "The House by the Railroad" look dark. Some of the windows look like they are open, which makes the viewer wonder what is inside the house. However, only dark, empty space can be seen through the windows. Strange shadows, dark spaces, and areas with light were important parts of many Hopper paintings.

There are no people in the painting, and no evidence of other houses nearby. Hopper was famous for showing loneliness in his art. People often said that, even when there were many people in his paintings, each person seems to be alone in his or her own world.

VOICE ONE:

During the great economic depression of the nineteen thirties, many people saw Hopper's lonely, mysterious paintings of everyday subjects. They liked the pictures because they seemed to show life honestly, without trying to make it happier or prettier than it really was. As a result, Hopper continued to sell many paintings during those years, even though most Americans were very poor.

VOICE TWO:

"Nighthawks" 

In nineteen forty-two, Hopper painted his most famous work, "Nighthawks."  The painting shows four people in an eating-place called a diner late at night. They look sad, tired, and lonely. Two of them look like they are in a love relationship. But they do not appear to be talking to each other. The dark night that surrounds them is mysterious and tense. There is no door in the painting, which makes the subjects seem like they might be trapped.

Hopper painted "Nighthawks" soon after the Japanese bomb attack against the United States at Pearl¹⁴ Harbor¹⁵ in Hawaii. Many people thought the painting showed the fear and unhappiness that most Americans were feeling after the attack. The painting became very famous. Today, most Americans still recognize it. The painting now hangs in a famous museum in Chicago, Illinois.

VOICE ONE:

"Nighthawks" was not Edward Hopper's only great success. In nineteen fifty, he finished a painting called "Cape Cod Morning." It shows a brightly colored house in the country. In the middle of the painting, a woman leans on a table and looks out a window. She looks very sad. However, nothing in the painting gives any idea about why she would be sad. Today this painting hangs in a special place in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington. It is one the paintings we noted¹⁶ at the beginning of this program.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Edward Hopper began to struggle with his art during the nineteen fifties and sixties. He had trouble finding¹⁷ interesting subjects. When he did find good things to paint, he struggled to paint them well.

At the same time, the artistic community became less interested in realistic paintings. In the nineteen fifties, the Abstract Expressionist style became very popular. These artists refused to have subjects to paint. They wanted to "paint about painting" and "paint about ideas." They thought Hopper's style was no longer modern or important. As a result, the paintings he did complete met less success than during the earlier years.

Edward Hopper died in nineteen sixty-seven. His wife Jo died less than a year later.

Many years after his death, Hopper's work is still popular in this country and outside America. In two thousand four, the famous Tate Art Gallery in London had a show of his paintings. This show brought the second-largest number of visitors of any show in the history of the museum. Today, people say Edward Hopper was one of the best American artists of the twentieth century.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Sarah Randle and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Doug Johnson. You can read, listen to and download this program at our Web site, voaspecialenglish. com. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English
 

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

3 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

4 abstract   

adj.抽象的；n.摘要，梗概；vt.提取；摘录要点

参考例句：

• He is an abstract painter.他是一个抽象派画家。
• He made an abstract of a long article.他对一篇长文章做了摘要。

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

7 impact   

n.冲击，碰撞；影响；vt.装紧，压紧

参考例句：

• The computer had made a great impact on modern life.计算机对现代生活产生了巨大的影响.
• How will the war impact on such a poet?战争对这样一个诗人会产生什么影响？

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 recognition   

n.承认，认可，认出，认识

参考例句：

• The place has changed beyond recognition.这地方变得认不出来了。
• A sudden smile of recognition flashed across his face.他脸上掠过一丝笑意，表示认识对方。

12 railroad   

n.铁路；vi.由铁路运输

参考例句：

• The railroad connects two cities,namely,New York and Chicago.这条铁路连接两个城市，即纽约与芝加哥。
• My brother is working on the railroad.我兄弟在铁路系统工作。

13 incomplete   

adj.不完全的，不完善的

参考例句：

• The building was left incomplete.那座楼没有完工就停下来了。
• His novel was incomplete when he died.他死的时候他的小说没有写完。

14 pearl   

n.珍珠，珍珠母

参考例句：

• He bought his girlfriend a pearl necklace.他给他女朋友买了一条珍珠项链。
• The crane and the mother-of-pearl fight to death.鹬蚌相争。

15 harbor   

n.海港，港口；vt.庇护，藏匿；心怀(怨恨等)

参考例句：

• The harbor lies to the south of the city.港口在城市的南边。
• At that time,our ship was tied up at this harbor.当时我们的船停靠在这个港口。

16 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

17 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。