I am writing about how Herman Melville in his story Bartleby and Edward Hopper depict loneliness. This painting, Sunlight in a Cafeteria portrays the loneliness of a man and a woman in a city restaurant, attempting to connect with each other but unable to do so. The emptiness of the restaurant, the ominous gray building across the street, the way the figures are turned towards each other without looking at each other, the way the people seem out of place in this city, the blank wall behind the woman, the geometric windows and tables and walls... these aspects of the painting and others evoke loneliness. I am currently thinking about the light in the painting and how it contributes to the loneliness. Hopper often used light in interesting ways; light is often as important a character as the people it illuminates. His light is often cold and harsh, revealing the flaws of the figures rather than warming or comforting them. How does the light isolate the characters in this painting? What role does it play in depicting their aloneness?
I love Melville's work. He takes the local scene that is all too familiar to American suburbia and portrays something human in a mundane system. I think in this piece, he particularly uses the light as a way for us to focus on the negative space in the painting and how space is the obstacle separating the two individuals. The light cast on the woman is almost halo-like (especially since the light is cast downward from a heavenly "above"). The man, attempting to enter into the woman's space, is caught more in a gray area.
ReplyDeleteI love Hopper's work, particularly the way in which he conveys solitude through his paintings, so I think it's great that that's what you've chosen to focus on. What I find really interesting about this painting is that the sense of loneliness that it bears despite the presence of two people. The light plays a large role to that end in separating the two, and making the woman appear to be very much alone. I agree with Jenn in that the shadow does a lot to distance the man from the woman's space, despite their relative proximity to each other. The bit of space highlighted on the wall by light behind the man emphasizes his placement in the shadow. Additionally, Hopper uses the light to draw the eye to the illuminated wall in front of which the woman sits. Light makes the painting much more about the scene and atmosphere of loneliness than about the loneliness felt by its human subjects.
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