To Look: The Scene Of The Seen By Edward Hopper

In “To look: The scene of the seen in Edward Hopper”, Jackson highlights Edward Hopper’s depiction of the double act of looking on canvas with transformation between imagination and reality. “Double act of looking” described by Jackson is that “We look at those who are looking at something else, and our act is duplicated in the act represented on the canvas” (136). For example, Room in Brooklyn portrays a woman who looks outside of the window and her back is showed to us so that as spectators, we can’t tell for sure what scenery the woman is looking at. The painting was created in 1932, which was in the period of the Great Depression. According to Jackson’s critique on Hopper’s masterpieces, “Hopper’s Rudimentary sense of composition is sufficient
for a message that conveys an insight into the present nature of American life” (134). The painting itself reflects Edward’s imagination toward the Great Depression as capturing the social form of the ordinary life of an American citizen when she suffered from starving and unemployment. Jackson says a painter doesn’t like the writer who states the main point literally, because the painter sends the messages by depicting space, hue or shape of figure with imagination (134). Through doing that, Hopper’s imagination is free to get released, and it also leaves blanks for spectator to fill in to it. I think Edward encourages observers to engage in his painting by putting themselves in those characters’ shoes so as to imagine what is happening to them.