RUNNING HEAD: Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 1

Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton
Student Name
University Name

Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 2

Abstract
The 20th century is marked by development of new style of arts. The painters with the likes Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton played pivotal roles in taking this form of art to the next level. Their works carry elements of modernism in them however they have different styles of depicting their arts. In this paper, we have taken Office at Night, Woman with Plants, and Sorghum Mill (Buffalo River, Arkansas) for analysis which are painted by Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton respectively.
Analysis
Thesis Statement
The works of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton truly represent the modern era of painting with some similarities and some dissimilarities.
Introduction
The painting of the 20th century was inclined towards developing a new form of art which carries modernity. It was a revolutionary period for painting and saw some great painters of all times. The artworks have huge impact of the modernism in them. Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton were the prominent painters of the era who have great contribution in the world of painting.
Edward Hopper-Office at Night, 1940
A sexy assistant and her attractive young manager work extra time in an otherwise abandoned office. The secretary’s large make-up, limited outfit, and present highlight her sexual accessibility. She seems positioned to pick up the document that has dropped to a floor and to start some contact with her manager, but he disregards her, resolutely working on the documents he maintains. The night breeze blowing the window provides the only activity in the scene. However the two figures are connected by the spot of light throw by the road light onto the wall, their future connections is unclear. The unclear dilemma of Hopper’s landscape resonated with modern audiences still modifying to the use of women in the office (Lyons, D., 1997).
Grant Wood-Woman with Plants, 1929
In the painting Woman with Plants, Wood painted his mother as a powerful and adoring frontier woman. He placed her in a village scenery and compensated unique interest to the attractive sewing on her outfit, the cameo around her throat, the plants in pots flower and other information that were essential to her. Individuals all over Iowa were extremely pleased of Wood's symbol of his mother. It was one of the first artworks about the area that seemed like it was done by someone who really realized and recognized people there. He
Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 3

kept operating in his new design and soon painted his most popular painting, American Gothic (Grant Wood Art Gallery).
Thomas H. Benton-Sorghum Mill (Buffalo River, Arkansas), 1968
The Sorghum Mill is nothing but a view along Buffalo River, illustrating a landscape Benton noticed. The Sorghum Mill was identified in Newton County, Arkansas, on a fall journey there. It was situated just below the city of Ponca, and on the higher Buffalo River. Such mills were typical all over the Ozarks in his youth and even up into the 30's. Most of them are now run by gas engines. Sorghum mills prepared this lawn plants from which sweet syrup, just like molasses, can be acquired. Not only were such mills changed by gas engines as Benton notices, the very production of sorghum syrup also dropped considerably in the years following World War II due to the extensive work it engaged. Thus Benton records a part of the American past, showing his wish, especially toward the end of his profession, to explain the personality of non-urban America before previously styles of life disappeared (Foster, K. A., Brewer, N. E., and Contompasis, M., 2001).
Artists' Personal Philosophies
As every art is a nothing but an expression of unconscious, and that seemed to Hopper that most of all the essential features are put there instinctively and little of significance by the conscious intelligence. But these are factors for psychologists to research. In creating Office at Night, he was worried mainly with illustrating the various resources of the light in the artwork. Also, the image will have to tell, but he wished it will not tell any apparent story, for none is designed (New York Times, 2006).
Wood has painted his mother as an icon for all the pioneer females and tells them tale through the use of thoughtful information such as her endured arms, her marriage band and the sturdy flower she maintains. She is so much an aspect of the area behind her that her sight are the same shade as the sky, her arms are the same shade as the maize and her attire is the same shade as the moving mountains (Corn, W. M., 1983).
Benton was a true lover of Nature and he was highly inspired and impressed by his town Sorghum. His painting depicted his love and he carved his town beautifully on canvas. He wanted to promote the Nature seeing the growing materialism towards material things and escape from the Nature of human being in the 20th century (Craven, W., 2003).
Prevailing Trends and/or Schools of Thought
Always hesitant to talk about himself and his art, Hopper basically summarizes his art by revealing the fact that "the whole response is there on the canvas". Hopper was stoic and fatalistic—a silent introverted man with a soothing humorousness and an honest way. Traditional in state policies and public issues, he approved factors as they were and shown a deficiency of idealism. Sophisticated and cultured, he was well-read, and many of his
Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 4

artworks display figures reading. He was usually excellent organization and unperturbed by silences, though sometimes taciturn, irritated or separated. He was always serious about his art and the art of others, and when requested would come back with honest views. Though Hopper stated that he did not knowingly include emotional significance in his artwork, he was greatly thinking about Freud and the energy of the unconscious. He had written in 1939, “So much of every art is a concept of the unconscious that it seems to me most of all the essential features are put there instinctively, and little of significance by the aware intelligence" (Lyons, D., 1997).
Wood is quite closely connected with the American movement of Regionalism that was mainly located in Midwest, and innovative figurative artwork of non-urban United States styles in a competitive denial of Western abstraction. Wood was one of three performers most associated with the movement. The others, David Stuart Curry and Johnson Hart Benton, came back to the Area in the Thirties due to Wood's motivation and support with finding training roles for them at institutions in Wisconsin and Kansas. Along with Benton, Curry, and other Regionalist performers, Wood's work was promoted through Associated United states Artists in New You are able to for many decades. Wood is regarded the patron specialist of Planks Rapids, and his child decades nation university is portrayed on the 2004 Iowa State Quarter (Corn, W. M., 1983).
On his come back to New You in the beginning Twenties, Benton announced himself an "enemy of modernism"; he started the naturalistic and representational perform these days known as Regionalism. Benton was effective in leftist state policies. He extended the range of his Regionalist works, concluding in his America Today paintings at the New University for Public Research in 1930-31. A comparative unidentified, he won a percentage to color the paintings of Indiana life organized by the state in the 1933. The Indiana Murals moved controversy; Benton colored individuals, and involved an expression of movement in the region's record which some individuals did not want promoted. Experts assaulted his perform for displaying Ku Klux Klan (KKK) associates in full regalia. The KKK achieved its optimum account in 1925. In In, 30% of men were approximated to be associates of the Klan, and in 1924 KKK associates were chosen as governor, and to other governmental workplaces (Adams, H., 1990).
Background Context
As Hopper put it, "If you could say it, there would be no purpose to paint." It was probably first recommended by many rides on 'L' train in New York City after black glimpses of workplace decorations that were so short lived as to keep clean and stunning opinions on his thoughts. Hopper basically leaves those opinions blurry and padded. Is the connection between the man and the lady emotional? Sexual? Or have they, like so many urbanites crammed into crowded places, basically become inured to each other? (Hobbs, R., 1987).
Wood took pleasure in his area and designed an artwork style all his own. He believed that technique does not represent art nor is it an unexplained, fluffy loving excellent known as
Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 5

'beauty,' distant from the facts of lifestyle. It is the level and concentration of an artist encounter that are the first significance in art. Intriguingly, though his preferred artwork was one he did of his mother, Woman with Plant. He later forsook images, describing, if he paints [people] the way they really look, they don't think anything of him. If he paints them the way they want him to, and he doesn't think anything of him (Green, E. B., 1972).
Benton was highly inspired by his town Sorghum and he wanted to carve out the beauty of the same on canvas. He beautifully depicted it through his painting. He was also inclined towards the Nature and he believed that people should not escape away from the Mother Nature. The materialism was looming large in that era and Benton believed that despite of the growing materialism people should stick to the Nature and keep its beauty intact (Adams, H., 1990).
Works and their Relation with the Era
The high angle from which the audience looks down on the workplace indicates that the audience may be looking in from a moving raised train—indeed. The era was marked by the industrial growth and development. People were engaged in making money forgetting the ethical and moral values. They wanted to earn money no matter what it takes as people were turned materialistic completely. In Office at Night, Hopper has depicted how people can even compromise with their dignity for their success and growth. However, there are so many interpretation of this artwork but most of the scholars have coincidence on the view that the secretary is seeking attention of her boss by her sexual exposure to him. However, the boss pays less attention to that and more to work and this also has a symbolic meaning that he is more inclined towards earning money rather paying attention towards his secretary (Hobbs, R., 1987).
Woman with Plants is a masterpiece of Wood dedicated to his mother. He has depicted his love for his mother on canvas. The era was marked by growing number of nuclear families and alienation from parents due to changing attitude towards life and hectic schedules of life. The sense of complete freedom was one of the reasons for the same. Wood has high regards for his mother and despite of the growing materialism and alienation in the era he has the same notion for his family especially his mother. Most of the painters in this era depicted personalities in their arts and Woman with Plants was inspired by the same trend (Green, E. B., 1972).
Benton’s works has huge inspiration from the Nature. Most of his arts depict natural beauty in them. This was not only with the case of Benton but most of the painters of the era heavily relied on Nature for their arts. The natural sceneries not only added to the beauty of the artworks but also depicted the love for Nature and need of the same in an era of industrial growth and alienation from Nature (Adams, H., 1990).

Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 6

Conclusion
The modern era of art is known for its uniqueness and innovation. Office at Night, Woman with Plants, and Sorghum Mill (Buffalo River, Arkansas) are the artworks from the modern era which carry certain elements of the era. However, they are depicted in different styles but when it comes to the symbolism and elements, they convey similar meanings.

Analysis of the Arts of Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Thomas H. Benton 7

References
Adams, H. (1990). Thomas Hart Benton: Drawing from Life. Abbeville Press, DOI-ISBN 978-1-55859-011-3.
Corn, W. M. (1983). Grant Wood: The Regionalist Vision. New Haven: Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Yale University Press.
Craven, W. (2003). American Art: History and Culture, McGraw-Hill, p. 439, DOI-ISBN 978-0-697-16763-7.
Foster, K. A., Brewer, N. E., and Contompasis, M. (2001). Thomas Hart Benton and the Indiana Murals, Indiana University Press, DOI-ISBN 978-0-253-33760-3.
Grant Wood Art Gallery. Retrieved from <http://www.grantwoodartgallery.org/grantwood.htm>.
Green, E. B. (1972). A Grant Wood Sampler, January Issue of the Palimpsest. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa.
Hobbs, R. (1987). Edward Hopper. New York: Harry N. Abrams, p. 116.
Lyons, D. (1997). Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, p. 60.
New York Times. (2006). "Entering an Expectant Realm in Hopper's 'Office at Night'." July 9, 2006.

Links to Artworks
Link to Office at Night: http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/media/images/00801-00900/00816/Office_at_Night_1940.jpg
Link to Woman with Plants: http://www.oilpaintinghk.com/art/oil_paintings_56742.html
Link to Sorghum Mill (Buffalo River, Arkansas): http://www.spanierman.com/Benton,-Thomas-Hart/Sorghum-Mill-%28Arkansas%29/13/4/