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by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: [email protected] / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Pablo Picasso, one of the most prominent 20th-century artists described art as ‘a lie that makes us realize the truth’. In other words, according to Picasso, artistic masterpieces were supposed to be a realistic as possible even when depicting simple imaginations.
Well, Edward Hopper’s art seems to be what Picasso was defining in one way. A maestro in art, Edward Hopper (1882-1967), was a prolific artist who presented his genius through a variety of mediums; nonetheless, his true virtuoso was displayed in his realistic paintings.
Half a decade after his death his work keeps most art lovers glued to his canvases and no pieces portrays his mastery as the ‘Camel’s hump’ painting of 1931. Realism is defined as an attempts to develop an artistic impression as well as literature that is as lifelike as possible.
The ‘Camel’s hump’ finished in 1931 by Edward Hopper’s is a piece that used different shades of colours ranging from green, brown, blue, white as well as black to bring depth in a realistic manner. The painting is of two adjacent hills hence the name camel’s hump. It portrays a green lush background and partly cloudy skies.
The painting was done during one summer Hopper spent at Cape Cod. Hopper uses a light green shade at the foreground of the photo, introducing a brown shade that is later covered in black as the hills cover more distance. This use of colour highlights the painter’s skill in bringing out the texture on the ground.
Similar shading skills are highlighted in his ‘freight carriage’ painting of 1928; however not as prominent. The relationship of the vegetation, the distance as well as the shading are reminiscent of the ‘Night Shadows’ painting of 1921.
The painting provokes isolation as well as disquietude that are better found in urban paintings. As at now, no painter has been able to fashion such a feeling from open fields. Edward Hopper through this painting surpassed the realism that is highlighted in urban paintings, a factor that is set to inspire several modern paintings in the future.
