How
Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper painted America's entry into World
War II
By Lars Trodson
Same
theme. Same war. Entirely different approach.
Who
could be more different in temperament and technique (at least on
canvas) than Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell? They were born at the
same time (1882 and 1894, respectively), in nearly the same place (New York), and enjoyed spectacular success
during their lifetimes.
But
you'd never know they painted the same America, and no where is this
more evident than two works that treat the same theme in two
spectacularly different ways — and both of which were introduced
about a month apart.
It’s
been written that Edward Hopper started his most famous work,
“Nighthawks,” sometime after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His
wife, Jo, wrote in her diary that he finished the painting in late
January, 1942, and that he had been working on it for about a month
and a half.