“Au Louvre, la peinture, Mary Cassatt” by Degas

Among his monotype and pastel works, Degas did a series featuring a young model bathing in private interior scenes, many with the light coming in from a window. The model appears to be caught midway into a movement, making triangles with her body. While the bathing models make a variety of shapes in various positions, many of these interior scenes have secondary verticals and rumpled fabrics that support the model in the composition, and give the scene an intimate feeling, emphasizing the interior elements.

Edward Hopper, Evening Wind, etching (1921)

Hopper’s Prints

Hopper, Night in the Park, etching (1921)

Hopper, The Railroad, (1922)

Hopper produced approximately 70 prints over a relatively short period of time. His career as an etcher was short, and ended in 1923. In 1928 he made two last drypoints, before abandoning printmaking to focus on painting.

Martin Lewis, etching

If all Hopper wanted to do was paint light on the side of a house (Hopper’s quote), all Martin Lewis wanted to do was capture moments where light and shadow play.

Martin Lewis, Relics, drypoint, 1928

Notice how Lewis uses diagonals and strong light vs dark shadow shapes to create structure and mood in his compositions. The figures initiate the movement, but in parallel to Hopper’s quiet stage actors, they’re no more individual and personal than the buildings themselves. The story lives in the moment of the scene.