16-A Edward Hopper, House by the Railroad, 1925

16-A Edward Hopper, House by the Railroad, 1925
- Look closely at this painting and imagine whether anyone lives in the house.
- Describe the mood of this painting. Maybe lonely, empty, bleak, or barren? Ask them to explain why it seems like this. The dull gray color of the house, its deep shadow, windows with nothing visible inside, empty porch, and lack of vegetation all contribute to the lonely mood. Even the railroad track separates the viewers from the house, hiding the steps to the porch and making it seem even less accessible.
- Where is the sun? It is on the left.
- Where are the darkest shadows? They are on the right, under the porch overhang.
- What do these dark shadows suggest about the house?
- Describe the architecture of this house. What shape are its windows and roof? It is of ornate Victorian style with arched windows; the house has porches, brick chimneys, and an extremely steep, curved Mansard roof. The main body is three stories tall and the tower section has four stories.
- How would a real estate agent might write an ad for this house? What are its strong features? How could its location be described positively?
- Imagine how this scene would change if a train went by on this track. It would be noisy and the house might shake. At night, lights would shine in the windows.
- Which was built first, the house or the railroad track? Explain why they think this. Because this is an old-fashioned house with dated architectural features and it is too close to the railroad track, the track was probably laid after the house.
- Think of a building in their community that seems old, outdated, and ugly, but not so old that it is
a treasured antique. Explain that this is how Hopper probably felt about this house. Its Victorian architecture was dated and out of style in 1925, but today that style has regained some of its popularity.
- What elements in this painting help convey a sense of loneliness? The empty track and the lack of any activity enforce a sense of loneliness.
- Why might many people come near this house each day? What might they think about the house and its inhabitants? Will they probably ever meet the people who live in this house? Train passengers come close to the house each day but speed past it. They might even see people behind the windows or on the porch but cannot meet or talk with them. The speed of modern life sometimes isolates people even when it brings them physically near each other.


Nighthawks – 1942, 33x60 inches
The term "night-hawk", like 'night owl', is used figuratively to describe someone who stays up late. The scene was inspired by a diner (since demolished) in Greenwich Village, Hopper's home neighborhood in Manhattan.
Hopper began painting it immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sunday, December 7, 1941. After this event there was a widespread feeling of gloominess across the country, a feeling that is portrayed in the painting. The urban street is empty outside the diner, and inside none of the three patrons is apparently looking or talking to the others; all are lost in their own thoughts. Two are a couple, while the third is a man sitting alone, with his back to the viewer. The diner's sole attendant, looking up from his work, appears to be peering out the window past the customers. His age is indeterminate.
The corner of the diner is curved; curved glass connects the large expanse of glass on its two sides. Weather is understood to be warm, based on clothing worn by the patrons. No overcoats are in evidence; the woman's blouse is short-sleeved. Across the street are what appear to be open windows on the second story. The light from the restaurant floods out onto the street outside, and a sliver of light casts its way into one of the windows.
This portrayal of modern urban life as empty or lonely is a common theme throughout Hopper's work. It is sharply outlined by the fact that the man with his back to us appears lonelier because of the couple sitting next to him. If one looks closely, it becomes apparent that there is no way out of the bar area, as the three walls of the counter form a triangle that traps the attendant. It is also notable that the diner has no visible door leading to the outside, which illustrates the idea of confinement and entrapment. Hopper denied that he had intended to communicate this in Nighthawks, but he admitted that "unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city." At the time of the painting, fluorescent lights had just been developed, perhaps contributing to why the diner is casting such an eerie glow upon the almost pitch black outside world. An advertisement for Phillies cigars is featured on top of the diner.

15-A Charles Sheeler, American Landscape, 1930

15-A Charles Sheeler, American Landscape, 1930
Charles Sheeler is recognized as one of the founders of American modernism and one of the master photographers of the 20th century. He studied painting under William Merritt Chase in Pennsylvania. In 1909, he went to Paris, just when the popularity of Cubism was skyrocketing. Returning to the United States, he realized that he would not be able to make a living with Modernist painting. Instead, he took up commercial photography (as a self-taught photographer). Sheeler painted using a technique that complemented his photography. He was a self-proclaimed Precisionist, a term that emphasized the linear precision he employed in his depictions. As in his photographic works, his subjects were generally material things such as machinery and structures.


Look closely at all the details in this painting.
- Locate the tiny figure. He is on the railroad tracks.
- Where is the ladder? It is located in the right corner.
- Where are the silos? They are on the left.
- How does Sheeler indicate distance in this painting? The parallel horizontal lines are converging, coming closer together, to the left of the painting. Objects overlap and distant structures are smaller, with fewer details.
- What lines look as if they were drawn with a ruler? The lines on the edge of the canal, the train and tracks, and the buildings look as if they were composed with a straight edge.
- Much of this painting is geometric. What parts are not? The water and the reflections in the water, the sky and smoke, and the pile of ore are irregular in shape.
-How large do the buildings seem in comparison with the man. They are huge.
- This plant mass-produced automobiles. Raw materials and ores were transformed into cars. Long conveyor belts moved materials within the factory. What structures in this view possibly house conveyor belts? The long, thin white structure in front of the silos and other large buildings are possible sheds.
- What does this painting say about the scale of American industry in 1930? Sheeler was impressed with the massive scale of American industry and this plant.
- Visualize how industrial progress changed this view of the American landscape. Encourage them to imagine how this scene looked before the canal, railroad, and factories were built. The river might have curved and been lined with trees and plants. Smoke would not fill the sky.
- Do you think this painting seems more positive or negative regarding industrial development?
- How might an average American in 1930 answer this question? How did factories like this affect the lives of American consumers? Factories like this employed many people and the mass-produced goods they made were affordable to middle-class Americans. Early twentieth-century Americans were proud of their country’s industrial development and appreciated the rise in their standard of living made possible by mass production. Today, Americans are more sensitive to the effects of industrial development on the environment.
- Does this painting look like a photograph? Why or why not? Everything looks extremely clean and new- probably didn’t look this way for long, if at all, in reality.
- How does the absence of any evidence of humanity (save the lonely, anonymous figure) affect your reading of the painting? Sheeler exalts the industrial age and the inventiveness of man while at the same time glorifying the machines as beings apart from humanity.

Compare to Stella: What is each artist's goal in painting these huge man-made structures? How are they different? How are they similar? How might these artists have treated the subject of the other? How might they portray the same objects in different ways?

Conversation with Sky and Earth 1931; Classic Landscape