A little-known story about a popular modernist painter
Toward the end of his life, Edward Hopper, who hadn't even yet inspired the cover and title of one of Tom Waits' albums, was known to methodically empty ice trays from his freezer and let the small cubes melt in the sun. He would watch them until there was no trace of solidity left, then refill the trays, wait until their contents were once again frozen, and do it again.
A stranger passing by, observing this seemingly futile ritual, asked him what the purpose of his actions was. This is my revenge for offering philosophical aid and comfort to abstract expressionism, at the cost of marginalizing from serious artworld discourse realist if no less modern and uncompromising work such as my own!
, Hopper declaimed.
The stranger then inquired, with a quizzical expression, Aren't you thinking of Clement Greenberg? What does this have to do with him?
Hopper, unfazed, replied, Eh, Greenberg, iceberg, what's the difference?
Comments
on 2009-06-23 23:04:44.0, mariana soffer commented:
It is so true that in a way he has an uncompromising work, cause it is distant. And of course he was great with what he said to the guy that asked, critics are so square, they always want to define one artist with anotherone and then put it in an art movement to make it all fit well. Susan sontag would have said the same.