The Rare Bird Review

Today's painting on the world art tour is By Edward Hopper and was painted in 1942. Our rap and jive critic, L'il P-Bird, describes the painting (below.) Please click on the painting for the full view.

"Apparently, dere wuz some puh'iod when every college do'mito'y in de country had on its walls some posta' of Hoppuh''s Nighdawks; it had become an icon. 'S coo', bro. It be easy t'dig its appeal. Dis be not plum an image uh big-city loneliness, but uh existential loneliness, dig dis: de sense dat we gots (puh'haps overwhelmin'ly in late adolescence) uh bein' on our own in de human condishun. When we look at dat dark New Yo'k street, we would 'espect da damn fluo'escent-lit cafe t'be welcomin', but it be not. Man! Dere be no way t'enta' it, no doo'. De 'estreme brightness means dat da damn sucka's inside is held, 'esposed and vulnerable. Dey hunch deir shoulders defensively. Slap mah fro!

Hoppuh' dun did not actually observe dem, cuz' he used himself as some model fo' bod de seated men, as if he puh'ceived dudes in dis situashun as clones. He modeled da damn honky chick, as he dun did all uh his dudette characters, on his mama Jo. 'S coo', bro. He wuz some difficult man, and Jo wuz far mo'e emoshunally involved wid him dan he wid her; one uh ha' medods uh keepin' him wid ha' wuz t'insist dat only she would be his model. "From Jo's diaries we learn dat Hoppuh' described dis wo'k as some paintin' uh "dree characters." De joker behind da damn counter, dough imprisoned in de triangle, be in fact free. He gots a job, some crib, he kin mosey on down and go; he kin look at da damn customers wid some half-smile. It be de customers who is de nighdawks. Nighdawks is predato's - but is de dudes dere t'prey on de honky chick, o' gots she mosey on down in t'prey on de men? To mah' mind, de joker and honky chick is a couple, as de posishun uh deir hands suggests, but dey is a couple so's lost in misery dat dey kinnot communicate; dey gots nodin' t'cut each oder. Ah be baaad... ah' see da damn nighdawks uh de picture not so's much as birds uh prey, but simply as birds, dig dis: great win'ed creatures dat should be free in de sky, but instead is shut in, dazed and miserable, wid deir haids constantly bangin' against da damn glass uh de wo'ld's callousness. In his Last Poems, A. E. Housman (1859-1936) raps uh bein' "a stranga' and afraid/In some wo'ld ah' neva' made." Dat wuz whut Hoppuh' felt - and whut he conveys so's bitterly. Slap mah fro!"

"N' den dere's dem damn birds at de counter and hangin'o-side. Whad's wid duh pank birds?"

The original hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.