Edward Hopper in Vermont by Bonnie Tocher Clause

Author:Bonnie Tocher Clause
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: University Press of New England

FIG. 5.5 The White River along Route 14 in South Royalton, looking west from the area known as Sylvester’s Rocks or Pinch Rock. Hopper was probably in this area when he painted Windy Day (plate 21). This photo was taken on August 18, 2011, just a week before the major flooding associated with Hurricane Irene.

Photograph © Bonnie T. Clause 2010.

In Rain on River, a field forms a flat plane between river and mountains. There are no structures, but the field may be a pasture, although it does not appear to be in use—the grass is high. The leaning trees are windblown and seem water-laden. The mist and rain are evident in the foreground grasses, impressionistically rendered, and in the blurred profile and shadowy blue color of the distant mountains. The sky is pale gray, almost colorless, with a darker band of cloud. Looking very closely, one can see that it is dripping. Hopper must have used a very wet brush and a light touch to have achieved this highly atmospheric effect.41

Like First Branch of the White River (plate 20), both White River at Royalton (plate 19) and Windy Day (plate 21) are highly accomplished and relatively complex paintings, combining many of the features that are individual focal points for the other river scenes. White River at Royalton has great depth and dimensionality, displaying the landscape in at least six vertical levels (river, island, riverbank, meadow, mountain, and sky), each painted with apparent care and attention to color, light, and shadow. Jo’s description: “Wild & wooly one. Tree forms towsled [sic] green. Foreground pale water brown reflection across front narrow strip. The rest of light part is gravel bar except where narrow strip of water—brown—reflection creeps in over bar. Middle strip of light is bright green field. Sky white cloud at top, blue against trees & hill top dark green. mt. in shadow.”42

In Windy Day, Hopper has succeeded in painting the wind. It is seen in the rippled water, in the branches of the tree in the left mid-ground, in the clouds, and even in the pale colors of a cool day in early fall.

When the White River watercolors are assembled and looked at together—as is possible in this volume—the variations that Hopper was able to portray in this small series of works are astonishing. All of the river sites he painted are within a few miles of one another, between the towns of Sharon and Bethel, the site of Landscape with Tower. To the casual observer driving along Routes 14 (fig. 5.5) and 107, there are only a few spots along the White River that truly stand out, places where one wants to stop and take a look—such as at the rock outcrops, variously called Sylvester’s Rocks and Pinch Rock, that appear in Windy Day.

But Hopper was not a casual observer. He was “honing” his eye, to again borrow a term from Salatino, and looking for scenes that embodied what was special, unique, and—for him—fresh and new about the Vermont landscape.

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