16 x 12", acrylic on mounted gessoed aluminum panel
painting #280, 2020
Edward Hopper painted Automat in 1927. It is the collection of the Des Moines Art Center in Des Moines, Iowa. An automat was a type of restaurant / cafeteria that served simple quality foods and drinks from vending machines. This fast-food concept first appeared in Berlin Germany in 1895. The first to open in the US in 1912 was located at 818 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. Horn & Hardart became the most prominent American automat chain. They were popular in northern industrial cities especially Philadelphia and New York City. Hot and cold foods were available for a few nickels. Popular foods were sandwiches, baked beans, salisbury steak, hamburgers, creamed spinach, baked macaroni and cheese, donuts, a variety of pies (beef, chicken, dessert), cakes and their famous coffee. They were generally open 24 hours/day. They grew out of fashion during the 1970's when fast food restaurants entered the landscape. The last Automat closed in 1991. It was located on 42nd street in NYC.
The lone woman seated at a table having a hot beverage. The fact that she has only remove one glove might indicate that she is only there for a brief period or coming out from the cold. Her facial expression and the time of day does sets the mood for the entire painting. There is a tangible sense of isolation and aloneness in her body language.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, this has been the reality for many people during quarantine measures with social distancing, working from home, school closures, a one unit family bubble during orange /red phases and limited admittance of people within a confine space. In order to reach out to family members, friends, to have the ability to communicate from home to the work place and for distance education, the public has been relying more on videotelephony and teleconference platforms like FaceTime, Skype and most recently the Zoom software which saw a significance increase in usage on a global scale.
With the coffee cup facing the viewer and resting on a calendar, my intention was to create a date using such software with the lady in the Hopper masterwork as a form of symbolism in communicating while being apart.
The calendar was published by Graphique de France in 1992. It had been in storage since then. The photograph of the painting "Automat" is credited to Ray Andrews (1990). I own three artbooks of Edward Hopper and the photo in the calendar is by far the best reproduction. The coffee cup was purchased as a prospect prop from Chapters / Indigo bookstore. It had been patiently sitting on a shelf in my studio for about a decade, just waiting to be used.
*Update- The Automat, a 2021 documentary directed and produced by Lisa Hurwitz goes to the core of this bygone institution with nostalgia and first hand account of this bit of Americana.
To acquire this painting, please contact:
Galerie de Bellefeuille
1367 avenue Greene,
Montreal, Quebec H3Z 2A8
Tel: 514.933.4406
e-mail- art@debellefeuille.com
-SOLD
