<p><strong>I</strong>n lush oil paint and muted colors, the luxurious and refined hotel lobby comes to life.</p><p>Nattily-dressed hotel guests lounge in plush chairs. Intricate woodwork around the front desk emerges from shadows. Paintings in gilded frames adorn the walls.</p><p>Yet for all of the richness of the scene, artist Edward Hopper evoked a sense of loneliness through the work he titled “Hotel Lobby.” The painting captures the emotions that Hopper had while traveling.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“We want people to see that not only was he inspired to paint hotels, but that the concept of hotels and transience, and that momentary experience you have when you’re in a hotel influenced his work,” said Anna Stein, curator of the show and assistant curator of works on paper at Newfields.</p><p>Though nobody is really traveling much this summer, people can still explore the iconic American inns, motor lodges and other roadway sights through the eyes of Hopper and fellow artists during the newest exhibition from the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel” focuses on the famed 20th century artist and his fascination with places of transience, escape and anonymity.</p><p>Step into the romantic depictions of hotels and learn how people participated in travel culture during the 1900s. At the same time, Hopper’s work fits into a tradition of using hotels to suggest emotions and ideas in art.</p><p>“For such a long time, Hopper has been held up as this great American painter, and I think he’s commonly viewed through this lens of loneliness and isolation,” Stein said. “We really wanted to nuance that a little bit more, explore what’s really going on in these paintings and what influenced Hopper.”</p><p>The exhibition, organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in partnership with the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, will feature 100 works from 27 artists. The idea for the exhibition came from Leo G. Mazow, head of the department of American art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.</p><p>He wanted to put together a collection of works that centered on Hopper as well as his role in the larger tradition of hotels in art. Mazow approached the Indianapolis Museum of Art about including “Hotel Lobby” from its permanent collection in the show. That opened the door for the exhibition to come back to Newfields after it was closed in Virginia.</p><p>“It was decided maybe four years ago that this would be coming to us, since one of our paintings was one of the highlights of the show,” Stein said.</p><p>Hopper was an American painter who came to prominence in New York in the early 20th century. He studied with William Merritt Chase, an Impressionist master painter and Nineveh native.</p><p>He is known for his urban scenes and landscapes, using color and shadow to imbue the pieces with a sense of estrangement and loneliness. Probably his most famous painting, “Nighthawks,” shows a late-night diner, where three customers and a server share space yet seem distant.</p><p>That same kind of atmosphere pervades “Hotel Lobby.”</p><p>“Hopper was fascinated by hotels. He traveled a ton; he made illustrations for publications within the hotel industry. When he and his wife would travel, they’d write about the places they stayed more than the things that they saw,” Stein said.</p><p>As visitors step into “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel,” they’ll be presented with this landmark painting and 56 other drawings, illustrations and etchings by the artist.</p><p>The art is paired with firsthand accounts of travel culture in Hopper’s time. Photographs, postcards and personal stories from he and his wife, Josephine, will show what it was like traveling around the country and the world in the early 20th century. The exhibition will also feature testimony from Americans of differing backgrounds, illustrating how travel and hotel culture appeared differently depending on a person’s race, gender and class.</p><p>Galleries are broken up in to themes, such as American hotel history and how the places came to be viewed in popular culture. Another gallery focuses on Hopper’s work illustrating for hotel publications. The story of hotels in the American West shows how Hopper’s own travels influenced his later art.</p><p>“We want to show how Edward Hopper’s art was shaped by his fascination by hotels and motels, and all these lodging spaces in American travel culture,” Stein said.</p><p>As the museum has with major exhibitions in the past, “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel” will also be paired with a pop-up culinary experience. This will be centered around a hotel bar theme, where guests can order an Old-Fashioned, Tom Collins or a classic milkshake to enjoy.</p><p>Much can be taken from the experience permeating throughout the exhibition. But Stein hopes that people who come to see it foremost take away a different perspective of Hopper and his art.</p><p>“Hopper has been built up in our history, but he’s not some kind of mythological figure. He’s a guy who participated in American culture in very specific ways, and that influenced his work,” Stein said. “That’s what I hope people see.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>"Edward Hopper and the American Hotel"</p><p>What: A new exhibition featuring the work of Hopper and his fascination with with places of transience, escape and anonymity.</p><p>Where: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, 4000 N. Michigan Ave.</p><p>When: Sunday through Oct. 25</p><p>Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; closed Mondays</p><p>Cost: $18 for adults, $10 for children ages 6-17, free for children 5 and under.</p><p>Admission: All guests, including members, are required to reserve tickets online in advance allowing us to safely control the crowd size to comply with large gathering protocols, while ensuring a contactless check-in process.</p><p>Information and tickets: discovernewfields.org</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
