The American Realist

(Rocky Pedestal, 1927, via Bowdoin College Museum of Art)

If by chance you have plans to be in Maine this summer, be sure to make a trip to Brunswick to see, Edward Hopper's Maine, at Bowdoin College Museum of Art. In the early to mid 1900s, Hopper spent many summers in Maine, which inspired many of his landscape paintings in years to come. A number of these works have never been on view before now. There will be ninety works, including watercolors, paintings, drawings, and prints on view in the exhibition, which opens July 15.

An American realist painter born in Nyack, New York, Hopper worked mainly in oil and in watercolor, and experienced a very successful career that spanned the first four decades of the 20th century. He sold his first painting at the Armory Show in 1913, at the age of 31! Influential to him were French artists Manet and Degas, among others. His contemporaries included Andrew Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, and Georgia O'Keeffe, and later many Abstract Expressionists would cite Hopper as an influence on their work, including de Kooning and Rothko.

Upon their deaths, Hopper and his wife Josephine, bequeathed their collection to the Whitney Museum. The upcoming exhibit in Maine is in conjunction with an exhibit that recently closed at the Whitney, Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time, which focused on Hopper's use of modern life as subject matter in his paintings of the human experience. Many of the works in the Bowdoin exhibition are on loan from the Met, the Whitney, and private collections. A favorite author/actor/comedian of ours, Steve Martin, is a contributing essay writer for the catalogue that is being produced for the exhibition. Sounds like a must-see!

(New York Interior, 1921, www.whitney.org)

(Soir Bleu, 1941, via www.whitney.org)

Mélange

(image courtesy of Hampton Hostess Blog)

One of our favorite ways to see art hung is in the salon-style. It's inspirational, dynamic, and always unique. Not to mention, a fantastic way to mix all styles of art, photography and imagery. Notice in so many of these images, traditional still life paintings hang right next to graphic black and white photographs. Or, as seen in the third image, you can accomplish a very interesting wall with only traditional elements, like equestrian imagery, botanicals and maps.

Just don't get caught up worrying about symmetry or perfection. And, don't be afraid to throw in other pieces alongside art, like a mirror; or hang your art around existing sconces. This is also a great way to showcase those small, often more affordable, pieces of art that you have collected over the years, that might not be able to hang alone on a wall.

A fun example can be found in one of our favorite movies, The Royal Tenenbaums. Etheline Tenenbaum hangs her son Richie's art along the walls of their quirky home, which was actually all done by director Wes Anderson's brother, Eric...see below.

(image courtesy of Jonathan Adler)

(image courtesy of Verdigris Vie blog)

(image courtesy of Two Coats of Paint)

(image courtesy of Apartment Therapy)

(above two images courtesy of IGN Movies)

(image courtesy of The House of Wood blog, via Domino)

"The Last Thing You Hung"

We loved getting Grant Gibson's blog post this morning thanking House Beautiful for including him in their June 2011 issue. The feature is called "Send Us a Picture: The Last Thing You Hung." The headline says, "Designers know that one of the quickest changes of all is to hammer a nail into a wall and hang a painting, a photo, a gleaming mirror." Grant then highlights a piece of wall decor by a San Franciso artisan that has the power to change a room entirely.

(image courtesy of Grant K. Gibson, "the blog")

At the risk of overstating the obvious, we feel exactly the same way! While it can be intimidating to hang a statement piece of artwork on a wall, creating a focal point for the room, that piece of art has the power to set the overall tone. Don't be afraid to start with a painting that moves you, and let it be the inspiration for the space it hangs in. Alternatively, it can be a very exciting thing to hang a piece of art in an effort to restore life to a room. Allow art to be a conversation starter, and let your personality show through your selections. We are often asked the best way to go about making a purchase of fine art, and we always say, go with your gut. After all, you are the one who will be living with it.

Another example of this we spotted recently was in the latest issue of Lonny. The images of Todd Romano's new LA store, along with his own home, show how his personality, and his fearlessness when it comes to letting art do the talking in a room. Don't let convention stop you from placing a contemporary, abstract piece in a formal dining room. Look how fun that piece is that Grant hung to the right of the "branchlers," on what appears to be grasscloth walls...Not only is that a room we would love to spend time in, but we also want to meet the inhabitants!

(above two images courtesy of Lonny Magazine)