Edward Hopper's Studio

For much of his life Edward Hopper painted his scenes of desolate city streets, offices, and bedrooms from a modest studio space on the north side of Washington Square Park. During the forties the building which housed the studio fell into the clutches of New York University. In a situation with alarming parallels to modern real estate clashes, the school attempted to boot out the inhabiting artists by raising rents and refusing to renew leases. Hopper doggedly fought to stay, and managed to remain in the building until his death in 1967. The Greek Revival structure, on the corner of Washington Square North and University Place, now houses NYU's Silver School of Social Work. They are the ironic caretakers of Hopper's preserved studio, on the fourth floor overlooking the park.

Ordinarily the studio is off-limits to the public, but as part of Open House New York, its doors were opened for the weekend. The room is kept in a similar condition as it was in Hopper's day. Within the stark walls are Hopper's easel, printer's press (which doubled as Hopper's hat rack), pot-bellied stove, fireplace, and even a kitchenette. An opaque skylight in the northern portion of the ceiling lets in a soft, diffuse light. Several photos of the artist in his element taken by Joseph and Evelyn Isaacson during the forties hang on the walls. The wooden floor still creaks and one can imagine Hopper lugging buckets of coal up the four flights of stairs to fill his stove in the winter even after more modern heating methods were common. A most absorbing time capsule.