The two Hopper watercolors in the Blount Collection are very different works to ‘New York Office’. ‘Light at Two Lights’ (1927) is on its way to Boston, where we’ll get a chance to have a closer look at it. ‘Bow of Beam Trawler Widgeon’ (1926), is the other MMFA Hopper watercolor.
Alabama
‘New York Office’: Experiencing Loneliness Together
In 1988, Winton Blount gave forty-one paintings from Blount, Inc.’s collection to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). Included in Blount’s gift were three Edward Hopper pictures, one of which would soon become the most popular artwork in the museum. This was ‘New York Office’, an oil painted in 1962 and one of Hopper’s last pictures.
Montgomery: Blount vs. Fleischman
I drive deep into the heart of Alabama. The shiny glass of Montgomery’s office towers and strip malls replaces Tuscaloosa’s old red brick. The old southern diners morph into brightly lit burrito joints. My mother and I enjoy a margarita while discussing Jack Warner and his collection.
Tuscaloosa: A Collection Remains
It is strange to think of Hopper as a historical painter. ‘Dawn Before Gettysburg’ doesn’t play nicely with the other historical pictures surrounding it in the Westervelt Warner collection in Tuscaloosa.
