1920-1921

American Landscape

American, 1882 - 1967

Many aspects of Hopper’s portrayals of American life were first developed in the etchings he made between 1915 and the mid-1920s, prior to his success as a painter. His innate talent as a printmaker is evident in his masterful compositions, often built up using an energetic manipulation of line around carefully constructed geometric forms to express an underlying emotional tenor. The wide rectangular format of this landscape, separated by Hopper into three horizontal bands, invokes the breadth of the American countryside beneath an open sky. Strong diagonal lines shape the grassy ridge and accentuate the movement of the cattle as they approach the train track, a hint of the encroachment of the machine age on rural America.