Edward Hopper beyond the commonplace: a review of his work under the light of Walter Benjamin's concept of poverty of experience

Abstract

The title of this dissertation —Edward Hopper beyond the commonplace— alludes to the fact that, although the work of Edward Hopper is widely acknowledged in the history of the twentieth century art, critical literature focused on it has resorted to a number of labels (Americanness, alienation, loneliness and the like) which, over time, have become clichés with very little critical insight and with very weak theoretical and visual foundations. My first aim is, therefore, to develop a different critical framework which is up to the task of analysing the indisputable visual relevance of Hopper’s work. I shall argue that this critical support can be found in Walter Benjamin’s concept of “poverty of experience”, which I shall re-examine in the Part I of the dissertation. But my main aim is to test this framework in the analysis of Hopper’s oeuvre, and to show that not only the notion of poverty of experience can enrich this analysis, but also Hopper’s works can enrich the concept coined by Benjamin. So, in the rest of the dissertation, besides reviewing the existing literature, I shall construct an interpretative hypothesis to account for the interactions between technology and tradition underlying the development of American painting (Part II), the complex relationship between painting and technological reproducibility in Hopper’s artistic project (Part III), and the emotional meaning of Hopper’s pictures (part IV). I hope that this critical approach improves the understanding of Hopper’s work and can be useful to a wider treatment of modern art history