Expert Voices: Edward Hopper’s Cobbs Barn, South Truro and Three Water Colors

Edward Hopper is best known for his New England subjects – Maine and Cape Cod in particular – which he utilizes in order to record his experiences in these quaint, coastal towns. His watercolors from the 1920s originate from Gloucester more than any other location, which is befitting considering the artist first became interested in watercolor while spending the summer of 1923 in the small harbor town. After years spent illustrating picturesque farms and seaside homes, Hopper traveled to Charleston, South Carolina in 1929. Accompanied by his wife, Josephine, the pair’s visit south offered a change of scenery from his conventional New England genre.

The Battery, Charleston, S.C., dated 1929, is the result of Hopper’s three-week stay in the charming southern city, which is renowned for its Georgian-style architecture and cobblestone streets lined with lush palm trees. During his stay down south, Hopper was equally captivated by the houses as he was the beach scenes. His Charlestown pictures possess an inherently tropical feeling, which sets them apart from his otherwise New England-focused oeuvre. The present work depicts The Battery, a landmark seawall and promenade which is one of Charleston’s most frequently visited sites. Bordered by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers which converge to form the city’s harbor, The Battery is both historically and socially significant within Charleston’s landscape.

In line with Hopper’s standard approach to these early watercolors, The Battery, Charleston, S.C. emphasizes the artist’s natural surroundings rather than incorporating any figures. A row of unoccupied benches line the sidewalk within this composition, further underscoring the emptiness of the picture. The peaceful atmosphere achieved in The Battery, Charleston, S.C. highlights Hopper’s deep communion with his immediate environment, and his subsequent commitment to illustrating this rapport within his body of work. Although devoid of human figures, this watercolor is intentional in its application of color and quite technical in the intersection of lines and overall perspective.

There are eleven recorded watercolor paintings derived from Hopper’s 1929 visit to Charleston, making this work a rare glimpse into a very particular moment in his life and artistry. Edward Hopper passed away in 1967, his wife Josephine following shortly after in 1968. Upon her death, all of the artist’s works in her possession entered the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collects ion as part of a monumental 1970 bequest. The Battery, Charleston, S.C. was gifted to the museum as part of that bequest, where it has resided for more than fifty years. When people think of Edward Hopper, they picture coastal scenes of Gloucester and South Truro, and picturesque summers spent in New England. The Battery, Charleston, S.C., on the other hand, is unique for Hopper in that it depicts a destination far from New York, Maine or Massachusetts. Already few in number, Hopper’s Charleston’s pictures primarily reside in public collects ions, making this a rare offering of a Charleston Hopper at auction.