House by the Railroad(1925) by Edward Hopper
American Indian Theme II(1980) by Roy Lichtenstein
Deanna Maravel
The Arts in New York City
Professor Graff
6 November 2012
House by the Railroad and American Indian Theme II
The realist versus the pop artist, Edward Hopper and Roy Lichtenstein couldn’t have been more different. In his work House by the Railroad, Hopper relies on stylistic details, such as choice of color and lighting, to depict a rather emotional image of rural American architecture. Whereas Lichtenstein’s American Indian Theme II is a visual statement based off of bold choices in symbolism and arrangement.
When you look at House by the Railroad, you can feel the overwhelming sense of loneliness in this oil painting. This picturesque house is all alone, with nothing in the background but the faded blue sky. There are no neighboring houses, so it seems that its only contact with other civilization is by the train track in front of it. Except the contact with the train, with other people, probably lasts only a few minutes, and just as quickly as it came, it’s gone. The very placement of the track at the forefront of the painting suggests that this painting should be filled with movement, however, it is directly contradicted by the stillness of the landscape around it. Hopper’s choice of muted, somber colors helps to visually display the desolate feeling this house pervades. A quiet man, Hopper loved the way the sun would hit these rural houses, and the decision to cast a shadow on the house, so that half is lit and the other is in dim light, suggests the that the house is fading away, just like the setting sun.
On the other hand, American Indian Theme II stands in sharp contrast to Hopper’s portrait. With its bold colors and use of color blocking, it immediately jumps out in an overwhelming print to the viewer. Like a jigsaw puzzle, however, the pieces of this woodcut can be picked apart. In the bottom right corner, bear claw tracks can be seen, right below the canoe, a trademark of the Native American Indians. Geometric shapes surround an abstract cactus, while a feather, another symbol, is almost hidden in the mix. Lichtenstein is known for his fascination with iconic stereotypes, and this comes across clearly here in this print. Working with a color scheme of primary colors, he takes the stereotypes of the Indian culture and carefully integrates them into a picture reminiscent of something from the past. This choice of juxtaposing the motifs of a past culture into modern art was perhaps his way of commenting on the American view of Native American culture.
Done in two different styles, each painting is a representation of something to the artist. Hopper, as the realist, chose to take a more traditional route. In choosing to capture a picture of rural America, he focused on color and lighting to breathe life into the form used. On the contrary, Lichtenstein chose to focus more on the form and structure of the print. Keeping his colors simple, his choice of blending common, stereotypical images makes a visual and mental statement as opposed to appealing to the viewer’s emotions. While both artists relied on color, form, and technique, the ways in which they applied them led to vastly different, but still effective, results.
