Hopper & Cape Ann

Hopper & Cape Ann tells the little known, largely ignored, and profoundly significant origin story of Edward Hopper s years in and around Gloucester, Massachusetts a period and place that imbued Hopper s painting with a clarity and purpose that eluded his earlier work and set the stage for his monumental career. Expanding on a major retrospective exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum ( July 22 October 16, 2023) to include an unprecedented loan of 25 works from the Whitney Museum of American Art, the book focuses on the summer of 1923 when Hopper first embraced watercolour during outdoor painting excursions on Cape Ann and discovered one of his favourite subjects, houses and vernacular architecture. The success of Hopper s Gloucester watercolours transformed his work in all media. What is significant and revealed in this volume is the lesser known story about how a young painter, Josephine Nivison, who became the most trusted force underlying Hopper s artistic confidence as well as his wife. Here she is recast as principal producer of Hopper s distinctive style and most trusted brand visionary from the time of their courtship until his death in 1967.