☛ Whitney Museum of American Art: “Study for Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper, 1941 or 1942, fabricated chalk and charcoal on paper, 11 1/8 × 15 in. (28.3 × 38.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase and gift of Josephine N. Hopper by exchange. Ref. no. 2011.65

This drawing is one four studies for Nighthawks currently on view in the ongoing exhibition Hopper Drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, May 23-October 6, 2013):

Hopper Drawing is the first major museum exhibition to focus on the drawings and creative process of Edward Hopper (1882–1967). More than anything else, Hopper’s drawings reveal the continually evolving relationship between observation and invention in the artist’s work, and his abiding interest in the spaces and motifs—the street, the movie theatre, the office, the bedroom, the road—that he would return to throughout his career as an artist. This exhibition showcases the Whitney’s unparalleled collection of Hopper’s work, which includes over 2,500 drawings bequeathed to the museum by his widow Josephine Hopper, many of which have never before been exhibited or researched. The exhibition will survey Hopper’s significant and underappreciated achievements as a draftsman, and will pair many of his greatest oil paintings, including Early Sunday Morning (1930), New York Movie (1939), Office at Night (1940) and Nighthawks (1942), with their preparatory drawings and related works. This exhibition also features groundbreaking archival research into the buildings, spaces and urban environments that inspired his work.

34 items from the exhibition are available to see online. The preparation work behind some of Hopper’s most notorious paintings really worth a look (even if it were only through the Whitney’s website). Sometimes a detail was sketched apart, like the close up on the pensive usherette in New York Movie. On some of the drawings, extensive notes about color where added, like those on one of the study for Morning Sun. The architectural drawings are especially rich in fine details. An exhibition catalogue is available as well.

The Whitney is supposed to offer 242 works by Edward Hopper online, but for some reason, I find it hard to navigate from one painting to another and keep being served 404 pages. Most likely a temporary glitch.

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Previously: “Night Shadows” by Edward Hopper, 1921