Room in New York. 1932.

These Hopper images are evidence of the strong hold a particularly urban brand of lived and imagined experience had on the artist. As overtly represented in Rooftops, these images were fostered by unique perspectives-- those offered by urban modes of transportation and the architecture of the city. These paintings suggest Hopper's fascination with looking while moving through cityscapes, and are cropped as glimpses of private life captured by the hurried voyeur. Hopper creates a multiple framing-- frames within frames, literally and metaphorically-- through which what the artist glimpses, retains, and comes to imagine is a voyeuristic view that then captivates us, as viewers, once again removed. Often, the viewer is brought even closer-- zoomed in, as in a movie. Hopper also details the lives of working girls, from the exotic quick-eats joints in the city, and their expression of modernity through fashion, to the necessary daily train ride. As Jo Nivison Hopper's notes describe her, the girl in Compartment C, Car 293 is an emblem of her time and place; she reads New Yorker magazine, with the option of Reader's Digest by her side on the seat.

Rooftops, 1926 Night Windows, 1928 Chop Suey, 1929 Compartment C Car 293, 1938