VMFA: Edward Hopper and Jo on Cape Cod

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts had an exhibition in late 2019 into early 2020, 'Edward Hopper and the American Motel.'   

It is a well chosen show exploring Edward Hopper's work, his relationship with his wife Jo, their travels, and the emergence of hotels and motels  in America after the 1920's.  Hopper lived from 1882 to 1967 and traveled extensively with his wife.

Edward and Jo Hopper traveled to Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts and may have stayed in these beach houses, which survive today.

Below is the watercolor 'Capron House' by Hopper in 1933.  The label in the exhibition explains: "In the background of Capron House is a long building with multiple dormers.  This is the Chequesset Inn, a luxurious resort hotel.  Built in 1886, the inn was an all-inclusive establishment designed to resemble an ocean liner.  Touted as the 'Hotel Over the Sea,' it stood four hundred feet into Wellfleet Harbor on an old mercantile pier.  Soon after Hopper completed the watercolor, in winter of 1934, a brutal ice storm severely compromised the foundation, and the deck and portico fell into the harbor.  Hopper's inclusion of the historic inn recalls his illustrations for the magazine Hotel Management a decade earlier..."

The 1960 photograph below by Arnold Newman is of 'Edward Hopper and Jo, Truro, Massachusetts.'  The exhibit label points out:  '"By 1930, Edward and Jo began renting summer cottages in South Truro on Cape Cod.  The couple eventually bought property there in the fall of 1933 and built their own cottage (shown here) in the spring of 1934.  In this photograph, the scale of the the figures suggests the extent to which Edward's career eclipsed that of Jo, who was also a painter."