My Dear Mr. Hopper (Whitney Museum of American Art)
This cache of letters written to the famously reclusive realist painter Edward Hopper reveals a surprisingly tender and needy side to the emotionally inscrutable artist. The 58 letters all come from Alta Hilsdale, a friend and romantic interest of Hopper's, and date from 1904 to 1914. The period was a formative one in Hopper's artistic career, although clear insights into his work are found wanting—while some missives reference landscapes and vacation spots that featured in Hopper's paintings, any overt references to his art practices are fleeting and vague. Instead, laid bare is a shadow version of Hopper wrapped up in his own desires and his affection for Hilsdale. In letter after brief letter, she does little more than cancel plans, turn down his offers for dinner, and scold him for his neediness (she does, of course, accept invitations to the opera or to dinner occasionally). Although repetitive, the letters take on an evanescent quality of want and desire, and Hilsdale's revelation of marriage in the final notes is surprisingly gut-wrenching. None of the letters from Hopper are extant, but Hilsdale's pithy words still manage to illuminate a previously unknown aspect of this important artist's interior life. Color illus. (June)