Aux Fortifications

Edward Hopper

1923 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

Hopper here recalls a scene in Belleville, northeast of Paris, where working class men and women socialized on the remnants of medieval ramparts. The artist had returned to New York from Paris in 1910 and took up etching when his paintings failed to find buyers, producing about 70 prints between 1915 and 1923. In addition to evoking memories of France, he focused on men and women experiencing the distinct urban character of New York, and explored rural and coastal Maine and Massachusetts. After Hopper received two awards for his prints in 1923—the Logan Prize from the Chicago Society of Etchers and the W. A. Bryan Prize—he refocused his energies on painting, but often returned to subjects that he had used etching to shape.

Artist

Edward Hopper

Date

1923

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925