Collection Online as of November 28, 2023
1929
Watercolor with gouache over graphite
Support: Cream wove paper
Sheet: 40.5 x 63.3 cm (15 15/16 x 24 15/16 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1930.851
© Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Catalogue raisonné: Levin W-228
Description Edward Hopper made this watercolor during the last of several painting excursions that he took to Maine. He had painted the lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth once two years before, but found the structure so interesting that he returned to it in this drawing. Hopper was especially attracted to the varying green tones of the grass and the combination of buildings, each with a different purpose, including one where the lighthouse keepers slept and the three at the bottom where coast guard families lived. He used a slightly different tone of watercolor for each of the structures to accurately convey the reflection of light on them.
Inscriptions
Inscription signed, lower right, in black gouache: Edward Hopper / Cape Elizabeth
Provenance October 1929
Edward Hopper, sold to Frank K.M. Rehn, New York, NY
1929
(Frank K. M. Rehn, New York, NY, sold to Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
1929-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Hopper, Edward and Jo Hopper. Artist's Ledger Book I . 1993-63. Mentioned: p. 71
An Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors, and Etchings by Edward Hopper . Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1937. Mentioned: p. 20, no. 93
O'Connor, Jr, John. "Edward Hopper, American Artist." Carnegie Magazine 10, no. 10 (March 1937): 303-306. Mentioned: p. 305
Coates, Robert M. "The Art Galleries: Water Colors and Oils." The New Yorker (May 26, 1945): 67-68. Mentioned: p. 67
A Survey of Watercolor - U.S.A. from 1870 to 1946 . Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1946. Reproduced: p. 20, no. 12
Benesch, Otto, and Lloyd Goodrich. Amerikanische Meister des Aquarells . Vienna: Albertina, 1949. Mentioned: no. 29
Goodrich, Lloyd. Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition . New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1950. Mentioned: p. 58, no. 103
Goodrich, Lloyd. Edward Hopper . New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1964. Mentioned: p. 67, no. 103
Goodrich, Lloyd. Edward Hopper . New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989. Reproduced: p. 72
Little, Carl. Edward Hopper's New England . San Francisco: Pomegranate, 1993. Reproduced: plate 21
Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. Mentioned: p. 224
Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné . New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1995. Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 2, p. 197, no. W-228
Lyons, Deborah. Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work . New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1997. Mentioned: p. 34.
Mecklenburg, Virginia M. Edward Hopper: The Watercolors . Exh. Cat. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1999. Mentioned: p. 90-93; reproduced: p. 92
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: P. 4, 252-253, 297, cat. no. 106; Reproduced: P. 253
Salatino, Kevin. "Edward Hopper's Maine." American Art Review 23, no. 4 (July-August 2011): 88-93, 111. Reproduced: p. 92
Salatino, Kevin. Edward Hopper's Maine . Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned: p. 28, no. 55; reproduced: no. 55
Exhibition history
Edward Hopper . Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (September 29 - November 29, 1964).
Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition . Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (February 11 - March 26, 1950); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (April 13 - May 14, 1950); Detroit Institute of Arts (June 4 - July 2, 1950).
Amerikanische Meister des Aquarells . Albertina, Vienna (October 2 - December 6, 1949).
Acquarela - E.E.U.U. Watercolor - USA, A Survey of Watercolor - USA from 1870 to 1946 . Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (April 24 - May 28, 1946); Pan-American Union, Washington, D.C. (1946).
American Watercolor and Winslow Homer . Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (February 27 - March 23, 1945); Detroit Institute of Arts (1945); Brooklyn Museum (1945).
An Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors, and Etchings by Edward Hopper. Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (March 11 - April 25, 1937).
Seventh Annual Exhibition of Water Colors and Pastels . Cleveland Museum of Art (January 23 - February 23, 1930).
An Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors, and Etchings by Edward Hopper . Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (organizer) (March 11-April 25, 1937).
American Watercolor and Winslow Homer . Walker Art Center (organizer) (February 27-March 23, 1945); The Brooklyn Museum (April 3-May 1, 1945); The Detroit Institute of Arts (May 15-June 2, 1945).
Watercolor USA: A Survey of Watercolor from 1870 to 1946 . Walker Art Center (organizer) (April 24-May 28, 1946); National Gallery of Art (May 17-August 1, 1946).
Amerikanische Meister des Aquarells . Albertina, Wien, Austria (organizer) (October 2-December 6, 1949).
Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition . Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 11-March 26, 1950); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (April 13-14, 1950); The Detroit Institute of Arts (June 4-July 2, 1950).
Edward Hopper . Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 29-November 29, 1964).
American Drawings from the Permanent Collection . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
Edward Hopper's Maine: Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, 1914-1929 . Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME (organizer) (July 15-October 16, 2011).
