A Rhetorical Analysis of Images
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
The painting “Nighthawks”
from American artist, Edward Hopper, was made in the year 1942 and is often
lauded for describing the loneliness of American nightlife. However, Hopper
himself claimed that the painting was more about “the possibility of predators
in the night, than with loneliness.” Additionally, he has claimed on many occasions
to draw inspiration from the short stories “The Killers” and “A Clean,
Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway.
- The painting’s use of dark, muted colors
in the surrounding city streets highlights the sinister nature of what Hopper
perceives to be the true nature of a city at night.
- It is interesting to note that there is
no one in the painting who is not in the diner, suggesting that the entire
world of the city’s nightlife is manifest in the four figures at the bar
counter. Hopper pays no concern to what is going on outside of this small
setting as there is no insinuated movement or development going on outside of
the diner’s walls.
- The barkeep is wearing white while the
two other men in the painting, who are seated around the counter, are wearing
black. This could reflect a sort of angels and demons dichotomy between the man
who is only up at late hours so that he can earn a paycheck versus the two men who
are up late at night in order to do something more sinister.
- There is no door leading from the street
into the diner; the only door in the diner appears to lead to where a kitchen
would be. Hopper could be suggesting a feeling of entrapment among the “predators
in the night” or, alternatively, it could suggest the inescapable feeling which
comes from insomnia or loneliness, particularly late at night.
- The couple in the painting is
intriguing, because it refutes, in many ways, the argument for loneliness that
many suggest for the painting. Hopper wisely chooses to muddle up the ideas of
danger in the night by putting a dangerous looking man with a lovely woman, who
would appear to balance him out.
“Nighthawks at the Diner”
cover by Cal
Schenkel; album by Tom Waits
Tom
Waits’ third album, “Nighthawks at the Diner”, was released in 1975 and is a
concept album loosely based around themes from Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks”.
The cover design was made by Cal Schenkel, who was tasked with adapting Hopper’s
painting and its themes to create a marketable album sleeve.
· - The album cover is a photograph, which
automatically creates a multitude of differences from the source material.
Particularly, the photograph form allows the viewer to clearly see, analyze,
and scrutinize the faces of those in the painting. Waits, who is at the
forefront of the cover, is looking, with something akin to exhaustion or
disillusionment, out a window, away from the other people in the diner. This
suggests that Waits, who is the protagonist of the album’s light story arc,
feels alienated even though he is in the midst of significantly more people
than populate Hopper’s painting.
· - Unlike Hopper’s painting, Schenkel opts
to have only the diner in his photograph. This takes Hopper’s empty streets
motif one step farther and suggests to the viewer that not only is nothing
going on in the world outside the diner, but also that there is no other world
outside this dingy little dive.
· - The very fact that this album cover
shows a clear protagonist distinguishes it from Hopper’s painting in several
unique ways. It is possible, and even likely, that we are to see Waits as our “guide”
of sorts through the diner as he identifies and analyzes all of the nighthawks
he sees there. Where Hopper left us on the outside looking in to make our own
conclusions, Schenkel gives us a protagonist to keep us engaged with the people
Waits sees.
· - The color red is more prominent in this
cover than in Hopper’s painting. Red, being a color frequently associated with
passion, functions well here to show Waits’ focus on the interactions and
quirks of the nighthawks with one another versus Hopper’s focus on the unseen “predators”
as well as with themes of loneliness. Similarly, in Hopper’s painting, the only
red is the woman’s dress which is also the only relationship shown in the
painting. Schenkel wisely highlights that facet of Hopper’s painting by
utilizing red in a more significant way.
· - In the bottom corner of the album cover,
there appears to be a small figure crouching or doubled over just outside the
window through which Waits is peering. This almost certainly harkens back to
Hopper’s statement about “predators in the night” with which both Waits and
Schenkel would have been familiar. The presence of this “predator” of sorts communicates
that, although the album’s focus is on relationships of the nighthawks, the
predators are still out there, lurking, and they deserve our attention.
“Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper, 1942. Currently in
the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL
“Nighthawks at the Diner” by Cal Schenkel, performed by Tom Waits, 1975. Asylum Records.
“Nighthawks at the Diner” by Cal Schenkel, performed by Tom Waits, 1975. Asylum Records.
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