VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the 13th Annual Virginia and Ira Jackson Lecture: Hopper Drawing, Thursday, Sep 23, 2010, at 6:30 PM at the Caroline Wiess Law Building. Presented by Carter E. Foster, Curator of Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Edward Hopper (1882—1967) is celebrated for some of the most iconic paintings of the 20th century: atmospheric masterpieces such as Nighthawks and Early Sunday Morning (detail pictured, full image below), which have helped define modern aesthetics as it relates to the subjects of voyeurism, the urban condition and solitude.

Although popularly labeled "realism", Hopper´s work is more of a delicate balancing act between the observable world and the imagination. His large body of drawings is crucial for understanding how he got from one to the other; his creative process greatly influenced the way he painted before he put brush to canvas.

In this lecture, Carter Foster will examine that process in detail, through some of the important themes that Hopper developed over the course of his long career, and by closely looking at groups of drawings from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in conjunction with the painted masterpieces to which they relate.

This lecture receives generous funding from the Virginia and Ira Jackson Endowment Fund at the MFAH and is dedicated in fond memory of Virginia Jackson (1919—2007).

Admission to the lecture is free and open to the public. A reception to meet the speaker follows.