Gender in the 1920s

By the time of Hopper's painting 'Eleven a.m.' was realised in 1926, a major change in women's roles had taken place. The Suffragist movement's campaign of the early 20th century resulted in women gaining the ability to vote in 1919. At the time, women's gender roles were in the process of shifting from the traditional archetype of the mother/wife role to a more independent role. Freud's theories were used by young women to advocate the new exploration of sexuality and to prolong the wait for them to take up roles as wife/mother. [x] Changes in gender roles were rapidly documented by the "mass culture of the burgeoning magazine and movie industries, as well as the new medium of motion pictures and expansions in advertising.' [x] It can be assumed that these changes were also documented in art.

Edward Hopper's marriage and relationship with his wife conformed to the new shift in marriage from strict family organisation roles to that of the companion relationship model which was mutually sexually gratifying and affectionate. [x] Hopper's wife often modelled for his paintings and they came up with the identities of the female subjects together. [x p67] The strong relationship between Edward and his wife Jo would have heavily influenced his work.

Image reference: http://threadforthought.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Clara-Bow-in-1920s.jpg

Research about Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper was influenced by French art and the Fauvist movement, applying those stylistic ideas in his earlier work.” [1] However, later, Hopper tried to move away from these origins and “to establish an American" aesthetic consciousness.” [2] Hopper’s work was said to convey a sense of alienation about American existence as “a purely contemporary one, without roots in a continuum of tradition.” [3]

Hollander identifies the room as “defined, rather than impinged upon, by enclosure.” [4] He then asserts that the blankness of Hopper’s rooms encapsulates them as the place of his subjects - of human beings. Hollander is concerned with the metaphors of Hopper’s “scenes of openness and closure, of emptiness and possibility, of minimal occupancy and uncontested possession of place.” [5]

Hopper’s painting - Room in New York, 1932: The closeness of the two figures is said portray their heightened isolation and their absorption in their own private worlds. The painting has been likened to Camus’s image o f the Absurd where the “talking figure [is] seen through the glass door of a telephone booth, so that the movements of his mouth and his gestures appear meaningless. ” [6]

I have chosen the painting Eleven a.m. I am interested in the story of the undressed woman in the morning sunlight. She wears only shoes, which dramatise her nudity. In addition to the enclosure of the room, Fryd discusses her inward turned pose and her clasped hands – ways of embodying enclosure. The question Fryd raises is about her role – that she is gazing out of the window naked in the late morning, which “increases our unease over her sexuality and our voyeurism, and establishes reasons for her containment. She is a threat to herself, the artist, and to us, the viewer.” [7] There is a strong story in the room that I need to decipher.

Endnotes:

[1] Coffin Hanson, Anne, ‘Edward Hopper, American Meaning and French Craft,’ in Art Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, (Summer, 1981), 142.[2] Coffin Hanson, Anne, ‘Edward Hopper, American Meaning and French Craft,’ in Art Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, (Summer, 1981), 142.[3] Nochlin, Linda, ‘Edward Hopper and the Imagery of Alienation’, in Art Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, (Summer, 1981), 136.[4] Hollander, John, ‘Hopper and the Figure of Room’, in Art Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, (Summer, 1981), 155. [5] Hollander, John, ‘Hopper and the Figure of Room’, in Art Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, (Summer, 1981), 156. [6] Nochlin, Linda, ‘Edward Hopper and the Imagery of Alienation’, 139. [7] Fryd, Vivien Green, ‘Edward Hopper's "Girlie Show": Who Is the Silent Partner?’ in American Art, vol. 14, no. 2 (Summer, 2000), 58.

Review of Villa Müller

The Villa Muller demonstrated Adolf Loos' concepts of the muteness of a building, the theory of Raumplan and Loos' opposition to decoration. Loos' idea of muteness meant that he believed that the Villa Muller should be 'dumb' from the exterior and should contain a contrasting complex interior. His theory of Raumplan involved the circulation of the building across stepped spaces that varied in terms of their function and importance. Loos also used various materials and a high level of craftsmanship to highlight his interiors with contrast and colour as opposed to ornamentation.

The stepped rooms in the Villa Muller are designed around a central staircase with skylight for use by the residents and guests. The internal windows in the building allow visual connections between rooms as does the stepped circulation through the centre of the building. The back-of-house operations are gathered around the core staircase of the house which operates as the service stairacase for servants, designed to reach key residents' rooms of the building.

The key learning points about Villa Muller were Loos' ideas about space and volume deviating from the usual design methods of section/plan, the division of public and private spaces in a building and the idea of restraint with ornamentation.

Image Reference: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Villa_Muller_054.jpg

Final model of Villa Müller

Below is the final group model of the Villa Müller. The front view of the model shows the gardens and a lower street view of the building. The villa is nestled amongst the landscaped setting and appears simple - or as a 'dumb' building in Loos' terminology. The model is made entirely of balsa wood with an MDF base.

From the side, one can see the grand staircase that ascends up the side of the site, which leads down to the garden. The rooftop rooms are visible from this angle.

From this side, the driveway and entrance from the upper street are visible. The simplicity of the exterior is apparent and there is another staircase leading to the gardens.


This internal section view demonstrates the core staircase for the servants which is a critical element in the operations of the household. We selected this section for the reason that it showed this static element of the house in contrast to the areas occupied by the residents which are at different levels and positioning.


This section shows more of the back-of-house spaces in the basement, as well as some of the internal windows in the dining room. The double storey main hall is visible, as are the core staircase and the 'night floors' contrasted with the 'day floors' - separate groupings of space designed for day activities or sleeping.


This image shows the two section cuts side by side, which gives an idea about the floor levels and staircases and how they relate to each other.

Final parti and poché

Here are the parti drawings for the final submission. They demonstrate the circulation through the building and also demonstrate the operational parts of the house. The lighter sections indicate the areas where the residents and guests enjoy the visual connection and stepped journey through the spaces whereas the darker sections indicate the areas tha the servants occupy which do not have the same mood setting.

The poché in plan below shows the night level where the residents sleep. I was interested in the entry of light into the spaces. I made this poché darker because of the design of this floor for sleeping. I used white flecks to indicate that while light came into the building from one side, that it also penetrated the rooms furthest from the sun.
The below poché in section indicates two things. Firstly, in conveys the sense of light and the atmosphere in the spaces. The other information that it presents is the different levels of the building, as light is better able to reach the higher levels. Again, flecks of light are included to demostrate the permeation by light.