American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists

Provenance:

The Artist.

Josephine Hopper, Truro, Massachusetts, 1967.

By bequest to Mary Schiffenhaus (the Hoppers' neighbor), Truro, Massachusetts, 1968.

By descent to J. Anton Schiffenhaus, Arizona.

Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, 1988.

Acquired directly from the above.

Private Collection, Connecticut.

Lot Note:

This work on paper is a study for one of Hopper’s most iconic paintings, Excursion into Philosophy, which was part of the artist’s “couples” series. The finished work features a half-naked reclining woman, turning her back away from the man sitting next to her, suggesting a dysfunctional or aloof dynamic. A book stranded on the bed also hints at a possibly shocking revelation that leaves her partner dwelling on distressing thoughts. In the study, the focus shifts entirely on the seated man, without any obvious clues to explain his deep absorption.

The figure’s profound solitude is amplified by the bare and nondescript setting—a bedroom, perhaps a hotel room. His posture and the void that seems to surround him are a manifestation of the solipsistic state of being lost in thoughts. Tellingly, he is looking away from the window, as if tethered to his rumination, with no chance or even desire to escape. The title is on some level ironic, an excursion typically evoking a sense of freedom and unbridled movement, of adventure and possibilities, rather than confinement and brooding.

Arguably, Hopper’s body of work sought to capture the essence of mid-20th century America, with a distinct preoccupation for social disconnection and disillusionment, grasping the shifting societal values of the time towards increased individualism and disengagement from previously fulfilling social bonds. Excursion into Philosophy, much like many other genre scenes by the artist, bespeaks a palpable, if hard to define, anxiety about social isolation and the complexity of the modern world.