In this painting, Hopper depicts the austere facades of four apartment buildings and reduces the steel suspension of the Williamsburg Bridge to the margins. Completed in 1903 and connecting Brooklyn with Manhattan, the structure is indicated only by the unobtrusive railing rising at a slight diagonal along the bottom of the canvas. As opposed to focusing on the bridge that facilitates movement in and out of the city, Hopper creates an image absent of noise or motion. He emphasizes the alienation and anonymity of urban life by including a single figure: a woman sitting alone in a top story window.
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Artwork Details
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Title:From Williamsburg Bridge
Artist:Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York)
Date:1928
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:29 3/8 × 43 3/4 in. (74.6 × 111.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:George A. Hearn Fund, 1937
Object Number:37.44
Inscription: Signed (lower right): EDWARD HOPPER
[Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery, New York, 1928–37; received from the artist on February 22, 1928; sold to MMA]
New York. Frank K. M. Rehn Gallery. "Exhibition by Edward Hopper," January 21–February 2, 1929, brochure no. 2 (as "Williamsburg Bridge," lent anonymously).
Cambridge, Mass. Harvard Coöperative Building. "An Exhibition of American Art," February 19–March 15, 1929, brochure no. 4 (as "Williamsburg Bridge," lent by Mr. F. K. M. Rehn).
Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. "125th Annual Exhibition," January 26–March 16, 1930, no. 376 (as "Williamsburg Bridge").
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of American Art," April 4–28, 1930, no. 62.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Tenth Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Painting," June 6–July 7, 1930, no catalogue.
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "Twenty-Ninth Annual International Exhibition of Paintings," October 16–December 7, 1930, no. 113 (lent by Frank K. M. Rehn).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Forty-Fourth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture," October 29–December 13, 1931, no. 89.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Edward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition," November 1–December 7, 1933, no. 12 (as "Williamsburg Bridge," lent by Frank K. M. Rehn, New York).
Arts Club of Chicago. "Exhibition of Paintings by Edward Hopper," January 2–16, 1934, no. 12 (as "Williamsburg Bridge," lent by Mr. Frank K. M. Rehn, New York).
Art Institute of Chicago. "A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture 1934," June 1–November 1, 1934, no. 596 (as "Williamsburg Bridge," lent by Mr. Frank K. M. Rehn, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "National Art Week and the Museum: Paintings by Living Americans," November 25–December 1, 1940, no catalogue.
Boston. Institute of Modern Art. "Ten Americans," October 20–November 21, 1943, no. 11.
American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York. "Exhibition of Sculpture by Paul Manship, Works by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of 'Arts and Letters Grants'," May 19–June 29, 1945, no. 6.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Edward Hopper Retrospective Exhibition," February 11–March 26, 1950, no. 29.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Edward Hopper Retrospective Exhibition," April 13–May 14, 1950, no. 29.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Edward Hopper Retrospective Exhibition," June 4–July 2, 1950, no. 29.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 7).
Seattle Art Museum. "Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture," February 4–April 5, 1953, unnum. brochure.
Kent, Conn. Kent School. "American Painting, 1906–1956," September 12–November 29, 1955, no catalogue.
Washington, D.C. St. Albans School. "50th Anniversary Exhibition: Art and Secondary Education," May 21–June 3, 1959, no catalogue [exhibited in the section "50 American Paintings from 1873–1958"].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. "São Paulo 9, United States of America. Edward Hopper. Environment U. S. A., 1957–1967," September 22, 1967–January 8, 1968, no. 8.
Waltham, Mass. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University. "Edward Hopper. Environment U. S. A., 1957–1967," February 26–March 31, 1968, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Osaka. Japan World Exposition. United States Pavilion. "Images of America: American Painting," March 15–September 13, 1970, not in catalogue.
Bronx County Courthouse. "Paintings from the Metropolitan, Pinturas del Metropolitano," May 12–June 13, 1971, no. 19.
The University of Texas at Austin Art Museum. "Not So Long Ago: Art of the 1920s in Europe and America," October 15–December 17, 1972, unnumbered cat. (p. 50).
Allentown, Penn. Allentown Art Museum. "The City in American Painting," January 20–March 4, 1973, unnumbered cat. (p. 15).
American Embassy, Moscow. "American Painting, 1830–1970," opened June 1974, no. 15.
Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College. "Brooklyn Themes: Art in the Years of Roosevelt and La Guardia," October 26–December 7, 1982, unnum. brochure (checklist no. 30).
Bronx Museum of the Arts. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 2–March 24, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 17–June 2, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Queens. Jamaica Arts Center. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 15–July 27, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Staten Island Museum. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 8–October 20, 1985, unnum. brochure.
New York. City College of New York. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 25–December 13, 1985, unnum. brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "New York City," January 12–July 1, 1990, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
Tulsa, Okla. Philbrook Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 14–June 9, 1991, no. 12.
Miami. Center for the Fine Arts. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 29–August 24, 1991, no. 12.
Omaha. Joslyn Art Museum. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 14–November 10, 1991, no. 12.
Tampa Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," December 14, 1991–February 8, 1992, no. 12.
Greenville, S. C. Greenville County Museum of Art. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 17–May 10, 1992, no. 12.
Madison, Wisc. Madison Art Center. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 6–August 2, 1992, no. 12.
Grand Rapids, Mich. Grand Rapids Art Museum. "The Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 11–November 8, 1992, no. 12.
Berlin. Martin-Gropius-Bau. "Amerikanische Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert: Malerei und Plastik; 1913–1993," May 8–July 25, 1993, no. 59.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "American Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913–1993," September 16–December 12, 1993, no. 59.
Cologne. Museum Ludwig. "Edward Hopper," October 9, 2004–January 9, 2005, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Edward Hopper," May 6–August 19, 2007, no. 58.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Edward Hopper," September 16, 2007–January 21, 2008, no. 58.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Edward Hopper," February 16–May 11, 2008, no. 58.
Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "Hopper," June 12–September 16, 2012, no. 118.
Paris. Grand Palais. "Hopper," October 10, 2012–January 28, 2013, extended to February 3, 2013, no. 118.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Hopper Drawing," May 23–October 6, 2013, unnumbered cat. (fig. 161).
Dallas Museum of Art. "Hopper Drawing: A Painter's Process," November 17, 2013–February 16, 2014, unnumbered cat. (fig. 161).
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Hopper Drawing: A Painter's Process," March 15–June 22, 2014, unnumbered cat. (fig. 161).
Oxford, England. Ashmolean Museum. "America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper," March 23–July 22, 2018, no. 35.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Edward Hopper's New York," October 19, 2022–March 5, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pl. 70).
"Exhibitions in the New York Galleries: Edward Hopper, Rehn Galleries." Art News 27 (January 26, 1929), p. 11, calls it "View from Williamsburg Bridge".
Dorothy Grafly. "American Artists Reflect 25 Years of Transition Era." Public Ledger 190 (October 26, 1930), p. 8.
W. M. M. "The Tenth Exhibition of Contemporary American Oils." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 17 (June 1930), p. 118, ill. p. 122.
Guy Pène du Bois. Edward Hopper. New York, 1931, ill. p. 35, calls it "Williamsburg Bridge" and notes that it is in the collection of Mr. Frank K. M. Rehn, New York.
"The Forty-Fourth Annual American Exhibition." Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 25 (December 1931), p. 121, notes that this painting "shows how ugly material, seen through the temperament of the artist, becomes moving and even beautiful".
C. J. Bulliet. Art Masterpieces in a Century of Progress Fine Arts Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1933, vol. 2, unpaginated, under no. 114, calls it "Williamsburg Bridge".
Horace Gregory. "A Note on Hopper." New Republic (December 13, 1933), p. 132.
Mary Morsell. "Hopper Exhibition Clarifies a Phase of American Art." Art News 32 (November 4, 1933), p. 12.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. inEdward Hopper: Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1933, pp. 13–14, pl. 12.
C. J. Bulliet. "Hopper Poet of Solitudes Just Deserted." Chicago Daily News (January 6, 1934), p. 28, calls it "Williamsburgh Bridge".
"Edward Hopper Painting Bought by Metropolitan." New York Herald Tribune (March 26, 1937), p. 19.
"Carnegie Traces Hopper's Rise to Fame." Art Digest 11 (April 1, 1937), p. 14, notes the Museum's acquisition of this work as evidence of the artist's recent success, despite previously only selling two paintings in his twenty-three year career.
Ernest Brace. "Edward Hopper." Magazine of Art 30 (May 1937), p. 275, ill. p. 276, praises the artist's "stark" and "haunting" portrayal of city life through commonplace buildings.
W. Clifford. "Notes." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 32 (April 1937), p. 102.
"Museum Buys Painting." New York Times (March 26, 1937), p. L19.
"Metropolitan Will Display 17 U.S. Paintings." New York Herald Tribune (May 29, 1937), p. 30.
Carlyle Burrows. "Hearn Paintings at the Metropolitan." New York Herald Tribune (May 30, 1937), p. E6.
Edward Alden Jewell. "American Artists Show Works Here." New York Times (May 29, 1937), p. 15.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Metropolitan Purchases: Museum Displays Its Recently Acquired Paintings by Living American Artists." New York Times (May 30, 1937), p. X7, ill.
"American Art Exhibited at Metropolitan." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (May 30, 1937), p. 6C.
Martha Davidson. "The Pantheon of Living Native Art." Art News 35 (May 29, 1937), p. 10, ill.
Forbes Watson. American Painting Today. Washington, D.C., 1939, ill. p. 89.
Carlyle Burrows. "The Re-arranged American Rooms at the Metropolitan." New York Herald Tribune (August 31, 1941), p. E5.
American Artists Group, ed. Edward Hopper. New York, 1945, unpaginated, ill.
Oliver W. Larkin. Art and Life in America. New York, 1949, p. 427.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 61.
"Brooks Hangs New Paintings." Barnard Bulletin (April 12, 1951), p. 2.
Henry Geldzahler. "Edward Hopper." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 21 (November 1962), p. 115.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, p. 79, ill. p. 78.
A. L. Chanin. Art Guide/ New York. New York, 1965, p. 98, fig. 146.
Eric F. Goldman and Tracy Atkinson. The Beauty of America in Great American Art. Waukesha, Wis., 1965, ill. p. 114 (color).
Doris Reno. "Miami's Old 17th Century Friend Found Shining in a New Setting." Miami Herald (August 22, 1965), p. 21E.
"Edward Hopper is Dead at 84; Painter of the American Scene." New York Times (May 17, 1967), p. 32.
Lloyd Goodrich. Edward Hopper. New York, [1971], ill. p. 202.
James F. Pilgrim. Paintings from the Metropolitan, Pinturas del Metropolitano. Exh. cat., Bronx County Courthouse. New York, 1971, unpaginated, no. 19.
Nancy Heller and Julia Williams. "Edward Hopper: Alone in America." American Artist 40 (January 1976), ill. p. 73 (color).
Nancy Heller and Julia Williams. The Regionalists. New York, 1976, pl. 27 [reprinted as "Painters of the American Scene" 1982].
A. Hyatt Mayor. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Favorite Paintings. New York, 1979, pp. 106–7, ill. (color).
Magdalena Dabrowski. "Hopper, Edward." Academic American Encyclopedia. Vol. 10, Princeton, 1980, p. 233, ill., notes that the cropping in this picture alludes to a larger panorama while a lone figure in a window adds depth.
Gail Levin. Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1980, pl. 243.
André Fermigier. "L'Amerique selon Hopper." Le Monde (March 12, 1981), ill. p. 15.
Charles W. Millard. "Edward Hopper." Hudson Review 34 (Autumn 1981), p. 394, cites this picture as a characteristic example of the artist's architectural and "spatial elisions" that developed in his work during the 1920s.
Gail Levin. "Edward Hopper's 'Nighthawks'." Arts Magazine 55 (May 1981), p. 161 n.15.
Shelly Mehlman Dinhofer. Brooklyn Themes: Art in the Years of Roosevelt and La Guardia. Exh. brochure, Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College. Brooklyn, 1982, unpaginated, ill.
Gail Levin. Hopper's Places. New York, 1985, p. 19.
Lowery S. Sims. The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. brochure, Bronx Museum of the Arts. New York, 1985, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Richard F. Shepard. "Discovering Hidden New York: A City Album." New York Times (November 1, 1985), p. C30.
William S. Lieberman. 20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 1, Painting: 1905–1945. New York, 1986, pp. 42–43, 63, ill. (color, overall and detail).
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America. New York, 1987, p. 123, colorpl. 93.
Paul Richard. "Mixing It Up At the Metropolitan: Standards & Surprises at the Museum's New Wallace Wing." Washington Post (February 1, 1987), p. F9.
Lisa M. Messinger inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, pp. 47–48, no. 12, ill. p. 49 (color).
Lowery Stokes Sims inThe Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Art: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., American Federation of Arts. New York, 1991, p. 54.
John Brandenburg. "Art Review: Philbrook Show Features 60 Landscape Paintings." Daily Oklahoman (May 29, 1991), p. 13.
Eliot Nusbaum. "Joslyn Hosts a Vivid Landscape Show." Des Moines Sunday Register (September 22, 1991), p. 7F.
Nicholas Fox Weber. Patron Saints: Five Rebels Who Opened America to a New Art, 1928–1943. New York, 1992, p. 40, calls it "Williamsburg Bridge" and notes its depiction of tenement housing as indicative of the desire to "dwell on the shadows as much as the sunlight" in American culture.
Mary Ann Marger. "An Artistic Tribute to America." Tampa Bay Times (January 17, 1992), p. 32.
Andrew Hemingway. "Critical Realism in the History of American Art." Visions of America Since 1492. Ed. Deborah L. Madsen. New York, 1994, p. 131, fig. 7.3.
Gail Levin Whitney Museum of American Art. Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné. Vol. 3, Oils. New York, 1995, p. 179, no. O-258, ill. (color), as "Williamsburg Bridge"; reproduces the only extant study for this work (1928; conté crayon on paper; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York).
Deborah Lyons. "Record Books I, II, III, V." Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. New York, 1997, p. 41, reproduces the artist's record book noting that the MMA purchased this work in March 1937.
Virginia M. Mecklenburg with Margaret Lynne Ausfeld. Edward Hopper: The Watercolors. Exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C., 1999, p. 158.
Merlin James. "Edward Hopper: London." Burlington Magazine 146 (September 2004), p. 632, fig. 40, notes the psychological resonance of this work and calls it one of the high points of Exh. London and tour 2004-5.
Carol Troyen inEdward Hopper. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2007, pp. 121, 135–36, 141, 233 n. 30, 248, no. 58, colorpl. 58.
Gail Levin. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. 2nd rev. ed. [1st ed., 1995]. New York, 2007, pp. 213, 215, fig. 39 (color), ill. p. 772 (detail).
Elliot Bostwick Davis inEdward Hopper. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2007, p. 32.
Carter E. Foster inEdward Hopper. Ed. Carter E. Foster. Exh. cat., Palazzo Reale. Milan, 2009, p. 28.
Carol Troyen inEdward Hopper. Ed. Carter E. Foster. Exh. cat., Palazzo Reale. Milan, 2009, p. 50.
Rosalind Ormiston. Edward Hopper Masterpieces. London, 2012, p. 46, ill. pp. 74–75 (color).
Bonnie Tocher Clause. Edward Hopper in Vermont. Hanover, N.H., 2012, p. 41.
Caroline Hancock inHopper. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2012, p. 328, no. 118, ill. pp. 8 (color detail), 187 (color).
Daniel S. Palmer in Carter E. Foster. Hopper Drawing. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2013, pp. 96, 97 n. 14, p. 233, fig. 161 (color).
Richard Meyer. "Changing Partners: Richard Meyer on 'Reimagining Modernism' at the Met." Artforum 54 (November 2015), p. 146.
David Peters Corbett. "The Painting of Urban Life, 1880-1930." A Companion to American Art. Ed. John Davis, Jennifer A. Greenhill, and Jason D. LaFountain. West Sussex, England, 2015, pp. 574–75.
Leo G. Mazow in Katherine M. Bourguignon Lauren Kroiz and Leo G. Mazow. America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper. Exh. cat., Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, England, 2018, p. 53, no. 35, ill. (color) pp. 51, 137.
Colin Ross in Katherine M. Bourguignon Lauren Kroiz and Leo G. Mazow. America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper. Exh. cat., Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, England, 2018, p. 86.
Beatriz Cordero inThe Irascibles: Painters Against the Museum, New York, 1950. Ed. Bradford R. Collins et al. Exh. cat., Fundación Juan March. Madrid, 2020, p. 82.
Kim Conaty. Edward Hopper's New York. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2022, pp. 24–25, 127, 250, colorpl. 70.
Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York)
1921
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