Two on the Aisle

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Two on the Aisle

Artist Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967)

Date1927

DimensionsFrame: 43 1/2 × 52 × 2 5/8 in. (110.5 × 132.1 × 6.7 cm)
Canvas: 40 1/8 × 48 1/4 in. (101.9 × 122.6 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1935.49

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesHopper Ledgers, MSS. in Lloyd Goodrich collection, Book I, p. 55 ("Lady in box, old fashioned theatre, man in aisle, lady putting down seat").

du Bois, Guy Pene, Edward Hopper, New York, 1931, pp. 46-47, repr.

Art Digest, vol. II, April 1, 1937, p. 14, repr.

Brown, Milton W., "Early Realism of Hopper and Burchfield," College Art Journal, VII, Autumn 1947, p. 5, fig. 2.

Brown, Milton W., American Painting from the Armory Show to the Depression, Princeton, 1955, repr. p. 174.

New Bulletin and Calendar Supplement, Worchester Art Museum, vol. 20, no. 6, March 1955, s.I. p. 2.

American Artist, vol. 20, 1956, p. 24, repr.

America Illustrated, no. 32, 1959, p. 19, repr. (col.).

America Illustrated, no. 28, May 1961, p. 19, repr. (col.).

Gunther, Charles F., "1900: The American Scene," The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 7, no. 3, Autumn 1964, pp. 63-70, repr. p. 68.

"Art and American Life," The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 7, no. 3, Autumn 1964, repr. p. 68.

The Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Goodrich, Lloyd, Edward Hopper, New York, 1971, repr. (col.) p. 197.

Levin, Gail, Edward Hopper as Illustrator, New York, 1979, fig. 51.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, pp. 62-63, pl. 188, color pl. VII.

Strickler, Susan E., "American Paintings at the Toledo Museum of Art," Antiques, vol. 116, no. 5, Nov. 1979, p. 1119, repr. (col.) pl. XIX.

Stein, Susan Alyson, "Edward Hopper: The Uncrossed Threshold," Arts Magazine, vol. 54, no. 7, March 1980, p. 160, n. 6.

Levin, Gail, "Edward Hopper: The Influence of the Theater and Film," Arts, vol. 55, no. 2, Oct. 1980, pp. 123-124, repr. fig. 10.

French-Frazier, Nina, "New York's Winterset: Edward Hopper," Art International, vol. XXIV, nos. 5-6, Jan/Feb. 1981, p. 129.

Breitman, Ellen, Art and the Stage, Cleveland, 1981, p. 55, repr.

Hanson, Anne Coffin, "Edward Hopper, American Meaning and French Craft," Art Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, Summer 1981, p. 144, repr. fig. 5, and (det.) fig. 6.

Canaday, John, "American Realist," Dialogue, no. 54, April, 1982, repr. (col.) p. 20.

Hobbs, Robert, Edward Hopper, New York, 1987, pp. 116, 129, repr. p. 117.

Liesbrock, Heinz, Edward Hopper: vierzig Meisterwerke, Munich, 1988, p. 17, Taf. 7 (col.).

Marker, Sherry, Edward Hopper, New York, 1990, repr. (col.) p. 75.

Kranzfelder, Ivo, Edward Hopper 1882-1967, Vision der Wirklichkeit, Cologne, 1994, repr. p. 147 (col.).

Lucie-Smith, Edward, American Realism, London, 1994, pp. 126-127, fig. 115 (col.).

Costantino, Maria, Edward Hopper, New York, 1995, p. 19, repr. p. 39 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 159, repr. (col.).

Levin, Gail, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1995, vol. I, p. 83, vol. III, p. 172, repr. (col.).

Spring, Justin, The Essential Edward Hopper, New York, 1998, p. 104, repr. (col.).

Strand, Mark, Hopper, New York, 2001, p. 47, repr. p. 46 and on cover (col.).

Brommer, Gerald F. and Nancy K. Kinne, Exploring Painting, 2nd ed., Worcester, Davis, 2003, p. 164, fig. 11-16 (col.).

Kobry, Yves, "Hopper: le peintre d'une mystèrieuse banalité," L'Oeil, no. 558, May 2004, pp. 48-49, fig. 4 (col.).

Bertrand, Valère "L'Oeil d'Eric Darragon: Edward Hopper, un Américain à Paris," Connaissance des Arts, no. 617, June 2004, repr. (det. col.) p. 59.

Meyer, Laure, "Edward Hopper, la réalité magnifée," L'Estampille/L'Object D'Art, no. 392, June 2004, p. 36, repr. (col.).

Berman, Avis, Edward Hopper's New York, San Francisco, Pomegranate, 2005, p. 86, repr. p. 95 (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 52, repr. (col.).

Matheny, Lynn K., "Edward Hopper," American Art Review, vol. 19, no. 5, Sept./Oct. 2007, repr. p. 167 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 317, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 52, repr. (col.).

Goldin, Marco, Van Gogh and Gauguin's Journey: Variations on a Theme, Treviso, Linea d'ombra, 2011, p. 165, repr. (col.).

Strand, Mark, Hopper, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011, p. 53, repr. (col.) pp. 54-55.

Mazow, Leo G., Edward Hopper and the American Hotel, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2020, repr. (col.) fig. 5.3, p. 80.

Conaty, Kim and Seungah Helen Lee, Edward Hopper: From City to Coast, Seoul, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, 2023, p. 297, cat no. 128, repr. p. 133, 148.

Exhibition HistoryPittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, 27th International Exhibition of Paintings, 1928, no. 2, repr.

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Edward Hopper, Retrospective Exhibition, 1933, no. 4, repr.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress Exhibition, 1934, no. 595.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Edward Hopper, An Exhibition of Paintings, Water Colors and Etchings, 1937, no. 8, repr.

Columbia, University of Missouri, 1944.

Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, An American Show, 1948, no. 16.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Edward Hopper, Retrospective Exhibition, 1950, no. 25, (cat. by L. Goodrich).

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings Acquired by the Toledo Museum, 1901-1951, 1951.

Worchester, Worchester Art Museum, Five Painters of America, 1955.

Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Off for the Holidays, 1955, no. 72, p. 12.

Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago, 1956.

Boston, Eighth Boston Arts Festival, Exhibition of Oils and Watercolors by Edward Hopper, 1959, no. 12.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, What is Modern Art? March 1960.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Edward Hopper, 1964, no. 14, p. 64.

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Museu de Arte Moderna, IX Bienal de Sao Paulo: Edward Hopper; Environment U.S.A. 1957-1967, 1968, no. 6, p. 157.

Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution, 1967.

Waltham, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis, 1968.

Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art; Heritage and Horizon, American Painting 1776-1976, 1976, no. 44, repr.

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy; London, Hayward Gallery; The Modern Spirit: American Painting 1908-1935, 1977, no. 115, repr. (col.).

Flint, Flint Institute of Arts, 1978-79.

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1980-81.

New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, American Paintings from the Toledo Museum of Art, 1986, repr. (col.).

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Staint Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, et al., Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, 1995-1996, p. 146, repr. (col.).

Minneapolis, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota; Montclair, Montclair Art Museum; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, On the Edge of Your Seat: Popular Theater and Film in Early Twentieth-Century American Art, 2002-2003, pp. 143, 144, 148, 150, fig. 7.4 (col.), p. 142. (note: Hopper exhibited only in Philadelphia).

London, Tate Modern; Cologne, Museum Ludwig, Edward Hopper, 2004-2005, pp. 74, 89, 141, 246, repr. (col.) p. 140.

Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts; Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Edward Hopper, 2007-2008, no. 63, p. 91, repr. p. 127 (col.).

Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza; Paris, Galeries nationales, Grand Palais, Edward Hopper, June 12, 2012-February 3, 2013, cat. 114, repr. col. p. 183. New York, Whitney Museum of Art; Seoul, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, Edward Hopper's New York (Edward Hopper: From City to Coast Seoul title), October 19, 2022 - August 20, 2023.

Label TextThe gentleman removes his overcoat, his companion laying hers across the back of the seat. They have just arrived at the theater—early. So early that the orchestra pit is empty, and only one other patron is seated, engrossed in the playbill. The elegantly dressed couple resembles the artist himself, Edward Hopper (with his famously bald head), and his wife Jo, who modeled for nearly all of his female figures. The emptiness of the theater, which seems to draw attention to the separateness and self-absorption of the few figures within the space, is characteristic of Hopper’s images of American life. Although Hopper lived in the teeming city of New York, he was a master of the quiet narrative. His scenes of city streets, restaurants, offices, and theaters imbue ordinary moments of everyday life with psychological complexity. They rarely feature more than a few figures, leading to his reputation as the “painter of loneliness.”