Edward Hopper's Cape Cod Cottages and Houses -Then and Now

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was a solitary man at home by the sea, amid the sand, dune grass and low-lying shrubs. He and his fellow artist wife Josephine Nivison (1883-1968) lived frugally in a New York City walk-up apartment...

... and in their 805 square foot summer studio house on Stevens Way in South Truro, which they built in 1934. "It's just a summer cottage, as primitive as the land it's in," his wife, Josephine, once wrote to a friend. And the lucky owner -Anton Schiffenhaus, whose family inherited the Hopper house when Josephine, a friend of his mother's, passed away in 1968 (10 months after her husband). Even today, the roughly 30-acre swath stretching north remains mostly untouched, with only the tops of a few new homes visible to visitors. You can read the full article here: Cape Cod, in Edward Hopper’s Light .

For Edward Hopper, summers at the outer Cape meant capturing the tranquility of seaside cottages, fisherman shacks and a light like no other.

"Corn Hill" 1930
The cottages above Corn Hill beach are still there, only now surrounded by more outlandish structures.

"Cottages at Wellfleet" 1933

"House with Rain Barrel" ca. 1936
You can see that Hopper had a slightly different angle, and lots of trees have grown since. The house sits at the end of Depot Road in Truro and is owned by Patricia Bartlett. "Sometimes there would be up to thirty people in the parking lot painting my house", she said in a interview with the NY Times. You can check out the crowd at my other blog A Beach Lovers Place: Living in a World Known House, and read the whole article here: Edward Hopper’s Cape Cod: Then and Now.

"Dauphinee House" 1932
Set back from the shore at Phats Valley Road near Truro's station.

"Cottages at North Truro" 1938
The scene to the left is still very recognizable.

"Rooms for Tourists" 1945
The perfect place to spend the night..., one of Provincetown's oldest guest houses -The Sunset Inn.

Edward Hopper Paintings of Cape Cod that are available as posters at art.com:
Please click on images for more information and/or purchase.

"Cape Cod Morning" 1950
His wife Josephine insisted that he have no further female models after they were married. But not only was she his sole model after 1924, she also managed his career, sold his paintings and got his work to curators.

"Cape Cod Evening" (1939)
"The Long Leg" 1935
Featuring Cape Cod’s Long Point Lighthouse. This images was also released as a stamp this year, you can learn more about it @ Lighthouse Foundation.

"Hills of Truro" 1930
Josephine Nivison and Edward Hopper
Hopper liked to work alone and sometimes painted while sitting in his Buick (purchased in 1927), his watercolor board propped against the steering wheel. He loved his car. It insulated him from people, and he could quickly disappear into the same branching maze of dirt lanes and tarmac back roads that wind through Truro -from Solitude's Shore.

Shared with Metamorphosis Monday.