Early Modern Era Blog

 Gas by Edward Hopper 

Gas by Edward Hopper was painted in Truro, Massachusetts 1940. Hopper used composition, light, shadow, and color palette to inspire awe in his painting. The colors such as red, green, and white draws viewer's attention to certain objects. For example, the trees in the background are painted dark greens to make the gas pumps pop out using bright red.  The bright light coming from the building and the gas pumps along with the shadows in the surrounding area creates a dramatic tension and highlights the figure at the gas pump. The placement of the building in the left of the composition and the lone figure at the gas pump, emphasizes the sense of isolation. The emotions shown in Gas are ambiguity, desperation, and loneliness. The empty gas station, with the lone figure suggests he's desperate and anticipates a customer to appear, who may never arrive. The empty landscape, almost abandoned space, and the lack of other people in the painting creates an emotion of loneliness and detachment from the world around the figure. Like many Hopper paintings, this painting leaves the viewers with ambiguity, questioning the story behind the painting and the inner thoughts of the figure. 

Gas by Edward Hopper relates to the early modern art era because it captures American life and creating a painting based off human experience. Hopper captures American life in the mid-20th century, depicting figures in quiet, unchanging environment.  Hopper creates an image of human experience by incorporating a gas station with a figure working a job as an attendant. This was a common job in the mid-20th century, were the attendant at the gas station would fill your car with gas, check your fluid levels, and do basic maintenance tasks. 

Gas by Edward Hopper is a good example of the isolation and solitude in the Great Depression. A gas station is depicted as a place with lots of activity and movement whereas in this painting, it's the opposite. There's a lone figure as the attendant seemingly waiting for a customer to appear at this deserted gas station. Further emphasizes the emptiness and isolation that many felt during the Great Depression. Many business were forced to close or reduce production which lead to many being unemployed, loosing their assets, and their money in the banks. This was very sad and hard time for America. 

Chimney and Water Tower by Charles Demuth

Chimney and Water Tower by Charles Demuth was created in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1931. Demuth used geometric form, precise lines, and flattened perspective as elements in this painting. The chimney and water tower are made into geometric shapes, with sharp angles and flat planes to create a sense of monumentality. The edges of these different geometric shapes are defined with sharp, clean lines emphasizes the painting's precision and order. Demuth uses a near-frontal perspective, minimizing the placement of depth and contributing to the two-dimensional shapes. The Chimney and Water Tower depicts emotions of stress, anxiety, and hopelessness. During the Industrial period as well as the Great Depression, many workers in the industrial industry had anxiety and stress of loosing their jobs. Many were put under harsh working conditions and long hours due the high demand for product but the companies were unable to afford enough employees. Many felt hopeless due to how long this period lasted and how there was nothing they could do to change it. Demuth creates those emotions by the including the industrial buildings as well as the dark colors incorporated such as grays and blacks. 

Chimney and Water Tower relates to the early modern era through monumentality and American exceptionalism. This painting offers an image of the modern industry and America's greatest achievements in that time compared to other nations. Demuth cuts down the smokestacks and the water towers to their elemental shapes, creating a strong artistic statement of an American factory. 

Demuth relates the Chimney and Water Tower painting to the Great Depression through optimism, style, and background. Demuth created this painting using clean lines and sharp geometric shapes that represent order and power like the industrial structures, which could be seen as a counterpoint to the chaos the Great Depression caused. The geometric forms, although they don't represent the harsh working class, they may be see as an idealized perspective of the American industry. Many people were going through hardships during the Great Depression so optimism was very important to show because it gave people hope that there was some good to get through this tragedy. Demuth was inspired to create the Chimney and Water Tower based off the Armstrong facility but the Great Depression challenged his optimistic vision. After 2 years, Armstrong had laid off about half of its workforce in a devastating blow to the community. Although Demuth was challenged during the Great Depression, he proceeded to create some amazing pieces of art of the American industry and paintings that incorporated modernism. 

Cotton Pickers by Thomas Hart Benton 

Cotton Pickers by Thomas Hart Benton was made in Georgia 1945. This painting inspired awe through elements of composition, color, and brushwork. The figures in this painting are arranged in a rhythmic pattern, with curving lines of their bodies, creating a sense of movement throughout the composition. Benton chose a rich and vibrant color palette such as pale blue, whites, and bright reds to emphasize the intensity of the scene and the Southern landscape. The brushstrokes are expressive and visible, capturing physicality of the labor. Cotton Pickers show emotions of exhaustion, resilience, and desperation. This painting depicts the physical strain of cotton picking, the woman on her knees drinking out of a pot shows the exhaustion from the hard labor. The figures postures in the painting show resilience and determination despite the exhaustion and hot sunny days, they are committed to continue working. The child sleeping unclothed in the right of the composition shows that the figures are working in hard conditions because they are desperate to provide for their families during this hardship. 

Cotton Pickers relates to the early modern era through elements and social inequalities. Benton used exaggerated forms, active lines, and rich color palette to represent physical hard labor of the figures is characteristic of early modern art. Benton used the title Cotton Pickers which was a highlight of the social and economic inequalities many African Americans faced as laborers in the South. This reflect a growing awareness of social issues with the early modern art era. 

Cotton Pickers is relates to the Great Depression by depicting the hard labor conditions of cotton pickers in the American south. This particularly highlights the spread of poverty and racial injustice common in sharecropping, which was a major contributor to the economic struggles in the Great Depression. The Great Depression caused many people to loose their business or assets, as for sharecropping, it was more popular in the South and increased during the the Great Depression due to many small farms failing. Benton's painting of Cotton Pickers was a great reflection of the concerns for the working class during the Great Depression, along with reflecting the harsh labor many were put through in order to "survive" this global economy crash. 

Work Cited 

"Edward Hopper, "Gas," ENGL-105 Digital Art Exhibition, 

 https://orourkes.omeka.net/items/show/154#:~:text=Edward%20Hopper's%20Gas%20depicts%20the%20isolation%20of,the%20Great%20Depression%20amidst%20another%20World%20War. "

“Chimney and Water Tower.” Chimney and Water Tower | Amon Carter Museum of American Art, https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/chimney-and-water-tower-19959." 

“Cotton Picking and Loading.” Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), Cotton Picking and Loading | Christie’s, 

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot5846403#:~:text=In%20the%20present%20work%2C%20Benton,failure%20of%20many%20small%20farms.