5: Audience Reconstruction (1/2)
Edward Hopper
Nighthawks, 1907-1908
Oil on canvas, w152.4 cm x h84.1 cm (152.4" x 60")
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
Today and tomorrow, going to offer up for your consideration a couple (well-known) works where I genuinely don't know who the intended audience is/was — which is to say I have guesses, but it still seems highly debatable. And figuring out this first one is actually somewhat critical for me, because if there's any one artist I'm trying to work like, I'd have to guess it'd be Hopper.
So this is open for you to have at. What are the visual clues that indicate what sort of viewer Hopper had in mind? Are you part of that group, and how do you know? What was Hopper trying to say to his intended viewer? Regardless of whether you are/are not part of the intended audience, does this painting still 'work' for you, or speak to something you're familiar with? If it does, do you think that's accidental, or is some sort of universality built into the image? Where? What would cause this painting to not 'work' for a viewer?