Edward Hopper, American
Huh. Jed Hadn’t Realized That When They Offered Him a Window Office, He Was Going To Have To Provide the Windows, 1953
Oil on canvas
Follow That Is Priceless on Social Media and GoComics (the Link button):
Click to Follow This Blog or Share This Masterpiece:
Info about this artist is pointed to in a prior blog entry comment.
/// He peers through paneless windows. The sight
of this man evokes sad, dreamlike flight.
Into space will he leap?
Or is he home asleep?
(Note his bedpost at the lower right.)
/// His old coffee shop gave him a boost:
Late night caffeine; discussions of Proust.
That gang in nighttime talks
called themselves “The Nighthawks.”
Now, at night, real hawks come here to roost.
/// We’d expect some reflection or sheen,
but no panes or wood grillwork is seen.
He’s exposed to the air
if there’s no window there.
Can it be that it’s just very clean?
/// If you think that his office is nice
with no windows, please take my advice.
Gale wind cross-ventilation
causes defenestration,
and in winter the glazing is ice.
/// Hopper’s wife, (it is said) used to call
this stark work, “Man in the Concrete Wall.”
“Office in a Small City”
also makes me feel pity.
That back slab has no windows at all.
/// Jed’s safe perch scrapes the sky, close to heaven.
(He’d been forced to file Chapter 11.)
Should his enemies try
to attack on the sly,
he will fire his AK-47.