"Automat" by Edward Hopper

“ Automat” Edward Hopper

Noa Rascado Pérez.

Andrea Rey Martínez.

4º ESO.

Table of contents 1.

Introduction.………………………………………………............……..…P. 2

2.

Formal analysis.……………………………………………………..…......P. 2­4.

3.

2.1.

Subject matter.……………………………………………………...P. 2.

2.2.

Formal qualities.…………………………………………………...P. 2­3.

2.3.

Style.……………………………………………………...……......P. 3.

2.4.

Interpretation..…………………………………………………......P. 3.

2.5.

Context.……………………………………………………..….......P. 3­4.

2.6.

Judgement.………………………………………………..……..…P. 4.

2.7.

Symbolism.……………………………………………………........P. 4.

The​ ​ Story behind it.…………………………………………………….......P. 5.

3.1.1.

Andrea’s story.……………………………………….......…P. 5.

3.1.2.

Noa’s story.……………………………………………........P. 5.

4.

Conclusion.……………………………………………………..…..............P. 5.

5.

Bibliography.………………………………………………….......…......…P. 6.

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1.Introduction.

We are Andrea and Noa. We are art dealers. We studied a degree of art, our example to follow is Betty Parsons, a good art dealer. We are going to show a good piece of art.

We ​ chose this painting, “Automat” by Edward Hopper.

Edward Hopper was born on 22th july 1882 in Nyack and he died on 15th may 1967. He was a famous American painter. His paintings represent American contemporary solitude. He studied in New York School of Art in 1900. Edward went to Europe in 1906. He went to Paris, London, Spain, Berlin and Brussels.Then he returned to America where he died.

The painting was exhibited on Valentine’s Day 1927 in New York in the 2nd Hooper exhibition. Now, the painting belongs to Des Moines Art Center museum which is in Iowa (United States).

Noa chose the painting because it reminds me a film and because it transmits me a lot of feelings.

Andrea chose the artwork because it seems to me strange for the era of the painter.

2. Formal analysis.

2.1. Subject matter.

In this artwork, we can see a beautiful and sad girl. She is in a coffee ​ shop ​ at night. She ​ is wearing an ochre hat, a red shirt, a brown and green coat and one brown glove and she ​ is wearing ​ a skirt.

She is sitting on a chair and she is drinking and looking at the coffee cup.

She is alone in the coffee shop. The subject of the picture is the girl with the coffee cup.

2.2. Formal qualities.

The artwork is made on oil on canvas.

In the foreground, you can see the woman with the coffee and the table and the chairs where she is sitting.

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On the left you can see a black door and a golden radiator.

On the right you can see other stools or chairs.

In the background, there is a fruit bowl and a window, from the windows you can see the lights reflection and also darkness, for this reason we think that it is at night.

The colours are very dark. The perspective that the painter used, was straight on. The atmosphere represents a lonely place.

2.3. Style.

Edward Hopper is considered one of the Ashcan’s school painters, where he learned the abstract expressionism. He used a modern technique, a clear visual language. He usually paints the figure of a woman who is in a room​ . Women’s clothes are very old and it is the connection with history.

In 1995 the painting turned into the cover page of the magazine “Time”. It illustrated the stress and the depression of the society.

Nowadays Edward’s paintings are an icon of the modern society and life.

2.4. Interpretation.

Edward wanted to express the solitude of the girl that is ​ produced by some problems. ​ Both ​ dark colours and light express it.

The artwork was made for an inspiration and the magazine “Time” used it for ​ one of its ​ cover page​ s. ​ His artworks had fame later ​ on​ , this is the reason why he worked in the magazines and in the world of advertising. But, in the 20’s the artist became famous. The painting was addressed to all society.

2.5. Context.

Other works by the artist are ​ “Hotel room” ​ (1931) that is an image of a girl who is sitting in the bed and she is reading a book, in the background of this artwork you can see her luggage; ​ “Gas” (1940) that is an artwork where there is a petrol station where there is a man who is alone; ​ “ Nighthawks”​ (1942) that is a painting where there is a bar where there are two men, a waiter and a redhead woman; “​ Night conversation.”​ (1949) that is an image of a conversation between two men and one girl who are in an empty room, in this room there is a lot of light; ​ “Sheridan

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Theatre.” ​ (1928) that is an artwork where there is a man in a beautiful theatre.

Edward Hopper was taught by three of his school teachers . Degas helped him to learn the use​ d of lights and shadows in their artworks. But, Hopper liked more other artists as Manet, Monet, Sisley, Goya… All of these artists belonged to the era of Edward except Goya.

This artwork belongs to S.XX. We can identify this because in the previous era, the painter in general expressed a part of history, the mythology or a portrait whereas in this painting it ​ doesn’t represent any of these characteristics.

2.6.Judgement.

We think that it is a good artwork.

Automat is a good painting because some films were inspired by the girl of the painting and it was the cover page of one of the best London magazines.

For us the artwork ​ seems ​ to be ​ an innovator artwork because in past artworks the object of the painting wasn’t the legs of the girl.

2.7. Symbolism.

Hopper painted the legs of the girl this way because he wanted that ​ her legs were the object of the artwork. Hopper was inspired by her wife for his painting. And this is the reason why he painted a lot of women in his paintings.

Dark colours express the solitude of the girl.

The dark light and the clothes of the woman ​ show us that season was winter or autumn.

We think that the girl was of the middle society class because she isn’t wearing jewels and because she stayed in an Automat (that it is) a normal “bar” and it isn’t a luxurious bar.

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3.The story behind it.

3.1. Andrea’s story.

When I saw this artwork I felt a lot of loneliness. I thought that one day the girl went for a walk and when she was walking in front of an Automat she saw a man. She went for a walk for the same place every day, only to see that man. In one of her walks, she decided to enter into ​ the automat. The girl sat ​ at ​ a table and she saw the man. She did it some days. One of ​ those days she sat ​ at ​ the table where the man was sat. They spoke for a long time. They decided to meet another day but the man didn’t appear in the automat. The girl was very sad and she didn’t stop crying.

She went to the automat and had a coffee ​ at the table where she ​ had ​ met the man every day. The girl thought that she would be better if she went there.

3.2. Noa’s story.

When I saw this picture I remembered a film but ​ to tell ​ the truth I thought that it was a love story. The story is about a girl, she loved a man but he didn’t love him. One day, the girl saw the man with another girl; she, depress​ ed and sad, decided to go ​ to ​ an Automat to “heal her pities”.

She decided to have a coffee and when she was having ​ it she thought about what she has just seen. For this reason, in the artwork, the girl seems to be sad and pensive.

​ 4. Conclusion.

In this project we learned more information about this beautiful painting and its painter. Also, we learned to see artwork from other point of view and to keep our eyes on the small details. We discovered other authors from Edward’s era.

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5 .Bibliography.

Information: ● Serna, Justo; ​ http://justoserna.com/2008/12/​ [Accessed, 23th February 2015] ● Solís Umpierrez, Claudia; http://depasoarte.blogspot.com.es/2013/02/barroco­caracteristicas­generales­de.html [Accessed, 23th February 2015] ● Pérez, Tom; http://tom­historiadelarte.blogspot.com.es/2007/05/la­pintura­del­siglo­xix­el.html [Accessed, 23th February 2015] ● Pais Belín, Laura; ​ http://portal.protecturi.org/automat­de­edward­hopper/ [Accessed, 10th February 2015] ● Ana; http://arelarte.blogspot.com.es/2010/05/edward­hopper­el­arte­de­la­sugerencia.html [Accessed, 10th February 2015] ● Victor; http://www.actingoutpolitics.com/edouard­manets­plum­brandy­1876­and­edward­hoppe rs­automat­1927­psychology­of­the­individual­in­public­sphere/ [Accessed, 9th February 2015] ● Willaerts, Adam; https://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/automat­by­edward­hopper/ [Accessed, 5th February 2015] ● Hickey, Robyn ;​ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/338895940682058038/ [Accessed, 29th January 2015] ● Wikipedia;​ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat_%28painting%29#The_restaurant [Accessed, 29th January 2015] ● Wikipedia; ​ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hopper​ [Accessed, 27th January 2015] ● Pearmain, Jonathan; http://jonathanpearmain.blogspot.com.es/2010/12/artist­edward­hopper.html [Accessed, 5th March 2015] ● Miguel; http://elhogardelaspalabras.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/edward­hopper­en­madrid­visiones­ de­la.html​ [Accessed, 5th March 2015]

Link of the presentation: http://patrilm99.wix.com/automat

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