Hopper: An American Love Story

F Watchlist

With this documentary about Edward Hopper (1882-1967), we are launching a series of artist portraits with which the English production company Seventh Art Productions has made an international name for itself in recent years under the label “Exhibition on Screen”. In most cases, the films are based on a major exhibition that brings together key works. With the help of curators, art historians and contemporary documents, each film explores the style and biographies of a great artist. But the focus is on the paintings themselves, which Phil Grabsky, the producer and initiator of the series, and his directing partners carefully stage and embed in their context, with an eye for telling details. It is striking, for example, how central Europe was to the development of the quintessentially American painter Hopper, how difficult the transition to freelance painting was for the sought-after illustrator, and how uncompromisingly he subordinated everything to his work, including his marriage to the watercolorist Josephine Nivison, who severely restricted her own career for her husband. Particularly in the cinematic treatment, Hopper's mysterious scenic arrangements which inspired cineastes from Hitchcock to Wenders and Lynch are captivating, enveloping the isolation of single people and couples in unforgettable pastel melancholy. Ambiguities such as these and the subtle exploration of the dizzying works make each of the films a visual delight – and do full justice to the title of the series: cinematic exhibitions that create real added value.