Category: Edward Hopper - The Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum

Life Imitates Art

3/16/2020

From Jarvis MacKinnon III:

Our country and society is in such a precarious position due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the misguided laissez-faire approach and failed leadership of Donald Trump. We are all under such stress and anxiety. However, I saw a tweet on Twitter that was so clever -- about Edward Hopper, a fervent aficionado of Emmett Lee Dickinson -- that we just had to share it:

"Edward Hopper is the quintessential painter of American loneliness," as noted by Maika Pollach in "The Loner: Edward Hopper at the Whitney" (HERE). Now, life imitates art as we all practice "social distancing" in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The four paintings highlighted in the tweet above are shown in the slide show below on the left.

One thing the tweet (nor the linked article) mentioned, though, was that before he began painting loners and scenes of loneliness, Edward Hopper spent a few months painting sad clowns. One example is depicted below on the right.

We have written many times about the connection between Emmett Lee Dickinson and Edward Hopper. Information is HERE (scroll down to the middle of the page), and our various plog (poetry blog) posts are HERE (again, scroll down the page for the various posts -- including this one).

Words of Art

12/20/2019

From our art columnist, Jarvis MacKinnon III:

We’ve had a busy fall and early winter, so we’re a bit behind with some of our posts; however, we have a minute now to provide a quick update on some ELD Museum art news:

1. An anonymous donor purchased a work of art for us by Miami artist Maurizio Cattelan.

Entitled “Comedian,” this artwork was on display at the annual showcase Art Basel in Miami Beach, and it now hangs in our corporate offices. Or it did until it rotted and thousands of fruit flies were swarming in our lobby.

Pictured at the right: "Comedian," new artwork taped to the wall in the corporate offices of the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum.

2. In October we had a quick visit to Virginia Beach, and we stopped at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). There was a fantastic display of works by artist Michael Kagan, From the MOCA website: This is “the first solo museum exhibition by artist Michael Kagan. Bringing together key paintings from the past decade along with new works, the exhibition Michael Kagan: I Was There When It Happened traces the artist’s lifelong interest in technology, space and innovation.”

Below on the left: Welcome to MOCA -- the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Below right: Pics from I Was There When It Happened, paintings by Michael Kagan.

The museum had other interesting and even fascinating exhibits (especially an interactive exhibit called Charged which spotlighted artists who incorporate interactive technology in their works), and we we’re particularly delighted to see that an outdoor sculpture garden included a sculpture by Michael Manjarris of the first edition of poetry by Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).

Below left: Scenes from MOCA Below right: Michael Manjarris' "Poetic Object Series: The Poetry of ELD

3. For Edward Hopper fans, there is a wonderful exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond, Virginia, called "Edward Hopper and the American Hotel."

Edward Hopper was an immense fan of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). You can read some of our past posts about the Hopper-Dickinson connection HERE (scroll down to view the various posts), and additional information is HERE (scroll down to the entry dated September 6).

Below: The exhibit includes a Hopper-esque lobby straight out of one of his paintings -- AND -- a recreated motel room where guests who reserved in advance can actually spend a night in the museum.

Below left: The exhibit provides as "Travel Guide" as you journey from room to room throughout the exhibit. Below right: The souvenir book includes extras in the back -- two pamphlets about some of Hopper's road trips with his wife, trips that are highlighted and discussed in the show.

If you're a Hopper fan, don't miss this show! It runs through February 23, 2020,
at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA.

It then travels to the Indianapolis Museum of Art where it will run
from June 6 through September 13, 2020.

The F-Word, Part 4

12/28/2018

From Jim Asher, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request):

This is the fourth and final post on the December 10 Birthday Tribute to Emily Dickson at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.

Part 1 -- about Jan Bervin's presentation based on Jay Layde's work -- is HERE.

Part 2 -- about Martha Nell Smith's presentation about correspondence between Emily Dickinson and her sister-in-law -- is HERE.

Part 3 -- about Martha Nell Smith's use of the F-word (no no, no -- not THAT F-word) -- is HERE.

Part 4 -- In this part I will share thoughts and pictures about my day in Washington DC on the following day, Tuesday, December 11.

THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

I have visited Washington, DC, many times in the past, but I'd never been to the Phillips Collection, so I started my day there. The museum -- which touts itself as the first museum of modern art -- includes two paintings by Edward Hopper.

Edward Hopper was greatly influenced by the life and poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request). Info about the Hopper-Dickinson connection can be found on this site HERE and on various plog (poetry blog) posts, HERE (scroll through the various posts).

The Phillips Collection also had a few paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe -- another artist heavily influenced by Emmett Lee Dickinson.

For information, check the posts HERE, and scroll through other posts HERE.

Pictured at the right: The Phillips Collection includes a painting by Paul Cezanne of a seated woman in blue holding the first volume of poems by Emmett Lee Dickinson (as shown below).

Below: Other shots from the Phillips Collection:

Click to enlarge the image at the left to read about Jacob Lawrence's migration series; some of the paintings in the series are shown below:

THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Next I visited the National Portrait Gallery (which is in the same building as the Smithsonian American Art Museum). My main reason for going to the NPG was to see the official portraits of the Obamas -- both of whom are great fans of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Several years ago I sent the Obamas copies of my books Great American Poems REPOEMED.

I later received the nice postcard shown at the right (click the image to enlarge).

Pictured at the left: The museum had a special exhibit highlighting its daguerreotype collection. Two of the portraits were related to Emmett Lee Dickinson: one was of his sister Pythagoria; another was of his close friend Henry David Thoreau.

Pictured at the right: The museum includes a drawing called "The Death Bed of the Martyr President Abraham Lincoln," and it includes a likeness of Emmett Lee Dickinson (shown near the back left).

Dickinson and Lincoln were best friends (information is HERE), and Dickinson was devastated when Lincoln was assassinated.

More on the connection between Dickinson and Lincoln is included in the posts HERE.

Other connections to Emmett Lee Dickinson: Below left: A work by Andy Warhol -- who was greatly influenced by Dickinson (information HERE). Below right: The world of art's fascination with cows and cattle (information HERE).

Below left: Artworks that take a new look at American history. Below right: Folk art by Bill Traylor.

Below: Shots from around the museum.

Below: An upper floor in the museum includes a number of paintings of Emmett Lee Dickinson's family members:

Pictured at the right: One last connection to Emmett Lee Dickinson: an artwork depicting a hotdog. Hotdogs were invented by none other than Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Many people asked Dickinson for the ingredients in a hotdog, but he never told anyone.

"What is a hotdog made of?" he would say. "All I can tell you is that a ballpark frank is pure poetry."

Chop $uey

11/15/2018

From our art columnist, Jarvis MacKinnon III, and our Executive Director for Development and Expansion, Emerson Nettles:

A painting by Edward Hopper -- a lover of poet Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) -- has sold for almost 92 million dollars. The painting, "Chop Suey," includes a likeness of Dickinson's daughter, Qwerty Jean Dickinson.

See details in the CNN Style article below:

Below: "Chop Suey," by Edward Hopper. Hopper said that the woman in the center of the painting was Qwerty Jean Dickinson, Emmett Lee Dickinson's daughter.

Rumors are flying that the purchaser of "Chop Suey" intends to donate the painting to hang in the new Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum -- once it is complete.

A devastating inferno destroyed the original ELD Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, PA, the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson), and construction has begun on a 15.6 billion dollar project to reconstruct the museum in the now-abandoned Dickinson Lanes bowling alley (on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, PA, the birthplace of Emmett Lee Dickinson).

More information about the project to rebuild is HERE.

Love Is Blonde

1/9/2018

From our food editor, Verla Burrell-Bordelon:

Starbucks introduced its “Blonde Espresso” today, the company’s first new espresso in forty years. However, it’s not the first time that a “smooth and subtly sweet” lighter roast has been introduced to the American public.

Back in the late-1800s Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed at her request) introduced the “blonde espresso” at his family’s coffee shop, and he even publicized it in a poem, “Apparently with great surprise” (below on the left). His poem not only inspired the public to consume great quantities of blonde espresso lattes, it also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem “Apparently with no surprise” (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

Apparently with great surprise
At any happy Hour
The Foam atop my latte’s laced
In caffeinated power --
The blonde Espresso brewed this dawn –
The Day proceeds in haste
I measure off another Cup
With an Approving Taste

By Emily Dickinson:

Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play --
In accidental power --
The blonde Assassin passes on --
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.

A great lover of Dickinson’s Coffee Shop – and of Dickinson’s light roast – was painter Edward Hopper. He frequented the Coffee Shop regularly and used the location as the setting for his painting “Automat.”

Pictured below left and right: Dickinson's Coffee Shop in historic Washerst, PA (the birthplace of poet Emmett Lee Dickinson) was frequented by American painter Edward Hopper. The coffee shop and automat was the setting for Hopper's painting "Automat."

Pictured below: Edward Hopper's "Automat" was set in Dickinson's Coffee Shop in historic Washerst, Pennsylvania.

No poet has written more poems about coffee than Emmett Lee Dickinson. For the past five Februaries, we have shared some of his caffeinated poetry, and this “FeBREWary” we are serving up a “six cup” of coffee poems! Starting February 1, 2018, we’ll post the poems HERE.

In the meantime, click the buttons below to check out the coffee poetry from the past.

PoARTry of Emily & Emmett Lee Dickinson

1/2/2018

From Jim Asher, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request):

On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I attended a poetry event (in honor of Emily Dickinson’s 187th birthday) at the Folger Shakespeare Library (info HERE), I visited the Library of Congress (info HERE), and I strolled through the East Building of the National Gallery of Art.

The East Building was recently renovated. It re-opened to the public in the fall of 2016, and I hadn’t had a chance to visit until now – and it was nice to see so many artworks influenced by or in honor of Emily Dickinson and Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request).

Pictured at the left: In the American Art gallery, there is a wonderful hard-edged, industrial painting by Charles Sheeler (who as a youth attended the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys in Philadelphia) of the Dickinson Candy Corn Factory in Washerst, PA (Dickinson invented candy corn).

Of course, the gallery included works by Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keefe, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstien – four artists who were significantly influenced by Emmett Lee Dickinson.

For info on the Hopper/Dickinson connection, click HERE and HERE.

For the O’Keeffe/Dickinson connection, click HERE.

For info on Warhol and Dickinson, click HERE.

For info on Roy Lichtenstein and Dickinson, click HERE.

Pictured at the left: The East Building also had a gallery completely devoted to Alexander Calder, another artist who was completely influenced by the poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson – especially his cow poetry (see HERE…and scroll down to the entry dated July 14)

Pictured at the right: Two paintings, one by Henri Matisse and one by Pablo Picasso, are thought to include images of Dickinson’s daughter, Qwerty Jean Dickinson.

Pictured at the left: A small gallery on the second floor included works by Saul Steinberg. One is claimed to include images of some of Dickinson’s sisters; one was a version of a factory based on Sheeler’s painting of the Dickinson Candy Corn Factory; and one – called “Conversation” – was based on a discussion Steinberg had with other artists about Dickinson’s poetry.

Pictured at the right: Steinberg also drew what is now thought to be the most important family portrait of Emily Dickinson and her family.

Standing in the back of the drawing are Austin and Emily Dickinson; seated are Dickinson's parents, Emily Norcross Dickinson and Edward Dickinson. Dickinson's sister Lavinia is on her mother's lap, and Emily's beloved dog Carlo is at her father's side.

At the end of one hallway, the museum has on display an oversize painting of Qwertzie Dichundsohn, the daughter of Germany’s greatest poet and philosopher, Emil E. Dichundsohn, a distant relative of Emmett Lee Dickinson. Information on Dichundsohn is HERE.

Pictured below left: Emil E. Dichundsohn, Germany's greatest poet and philosopher. Pictured below right: Dichundsohn's daughter, Qwertzie Dichundsohn.

Throughout the various galleries of the museum are many paintings by artists in tribute to Emily Dickinson, the woman in white.

Pictured below: Two representations of Emily Dickinson by artist Anne Truitt:

Pictured below: Two paintings of Emily Dickinson by Robert Ryman:

Pictured below: A pair of paintings of Emily Dickinson by Jo Baer:

Pictured below left: A cloth representation of Emily Dickinson by Richard Tuttle. Pictured below right: A painting inspired by Emily Dickinson by Barnett Newman.

Nighthawks

7/22/2017

From our art critic and commentator, Jarvis MacKinnon III :

Happy birthday to Edward Hopper, born today in the year 1882.

Hopper, who attended the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys in Upper Nyack, New York, was a great fan of the life and work of Emmett Lee Dickinson. Information on the influence of Dickinson's work on Hopper is HERE (scroll down to the sections entitled "Hopper at the Carnegie" and "Hopper and Dickinson").

To celebrate Hopper's birthday today, we have posted Dickinson's poem "It is a lonesome Three" (below on the left), the poem that inspired Hopper to paint his masterpiece "Nighthawks." Dickinson's poem also inspired third cousin Emily to pen her poem "It is a lonesome Glee" (below on the right).

By Emmett Lee Dickinson:

It is a lonesome Three –
Who occupy the Bar –
With spare association –
Upon the Wind afar

Nighthawks to oversee
The night without a Cause –
Now restless and yet visible –
No matter till Sunrise –

By Emily Dickinson:

It is a lonesome Glee –
Yet sanctifies the Mind –
With fair association –
Afar upon the Wind

A Bird to overhear
Delight without a Cause –
Arrestless as invisible –
A matter of the Skies.

Pictured below: Edward Hopper's masterpiece "Nighthawks." The figure at the left is that of Hopper himself -- in the classic pose of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).

State of the Art

1/14/2017

From our art columnist Jarvis MacKinnon III:

Devoted fans of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request), know that a little over one year ago, a raging inferno destroyed the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, PA). We wrote about that catastrophe HERE.

As a result, we traveled to Washington, DC, this weekend to meet with Anstruther G. Schewzok III, the Smithsonian Institute's Chief Global Cross-Media Branding and Markets Virtualization Engineer, to discuss their interest in developing a museum dedicated to Emmett Lee Dickinson in our nation's capital.

While we were there, we toured the National Gallery of Art, the NGA East Building, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery. Throughout the day, we spotted connections to Emmett Lee Dickinson everywhere! We have noted a few of them below.

1. STUART DAVIS: IN FULL SWING

The Stuart Davis exhibit at the National Gallery of Art was wonderful! Bold, brash -- and Dickinson-esque! Davis, once dubbed the "artist-laureate of the Jazz age," loved both jazz and the be-bop poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson. As a result, Davis incorporated words and visual puns (note the e-less "complete" in the painting a the left -- and therefore it's incomplete) in many of his paintings in homage to Emmett Lee Dickinson.

2. EDWARD HOPPER

Edward Hopper attended the Emmett lee Dickinson School for Boys in Upper Nyack, NY, and many of Hopper's paintings include tributes to Dickinson. We have written about the Hopper-Dickinson connection HERE (scroll down to "Hopper & Dickinson"), and we were thrilled to see five Hoppers in one day as we toured the DC museums.

Pictured at the right: All five of the Hoppers we saw today!

3. GEORGIA O'KEEFFE

In her autobiography Klouds in my Koffee, Georgia O'Keeffe acknowledge that Emmett Lee Dickinson had the greatest impact on her life and work above and beyond anyone else.

We wrote extensively on O'Keeffe's fascination with Dickinson last summer when we traveled to Santa Fe last summer (HERE) to meet with the Governor of New Mexico.

Pictured at the left: Two of the many O'Keeffe paintings we saw today!

4. ANDY WARHOL

Another artist fascinated by Emmett Lee Dickinson was Andy Warhol. In his autobiography Fifteen Minutes of Fun, Andy Warhol stated that there was no greater influence on him than the life and poetry of Emmett Lee Dickinson.

Warhol attended the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys in Pittsburgh, PA, and that was where he first encountered Dickinson's poetry.

"When I read my first Dickinson," said Warhol, "I stopped caring so much about having close relationships."

Read all about the Warhol-Dickinson connection HERE...& more is HERE.

5. ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Roy Lichtenstein attended the Emmett Lee Dickinson School for Boys in Manhattan. He credited the influence of Dickinson’s poetry with revitalizing his work, and he used lines from many of Dickinson’s poems in his paintings.

Some of our past coverage of Dickinson & Lichtenstein is HERE.

6. ROSS DICKINSON

The Smithsonian American Art Museum included a painting by Ross Dickinson, a relative of Emmett Lee Dickinson and Emily Dickinson.

Ross Dickinson was, of course, completely captivated by the life and work of Emmett Lee Dickinson, and he painted my paintings about Dickinson and Dickinson's home, historic Washerst (pronounced WAS-herst), PA. In "Valley Farms of Washerst" (below on the left), and captured a quaint time in the city's history. A close up from the painting (below on the right) shows a fire burning at the current site of the city's world-famous mattress dump (the fifth largest mattress dump in the United States -- behind those in Memphis, Tennessee; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Ithaca, New York).

7. RAY STRONG'S "GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE"

One member of our delegation to the Smithsonian was Jim Asher, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson, and Roy Strong's painting of the Golden Gate Bridge at the SAAM had a personal connection to him. The painting (below) was painted in 1934 when the Golden Gate Bridge was under construction. The bridge was completed in 1936, and on the day before it opened to traffic, pedestrians were allowed to walk across the bridge -- and it turned out that Asher's father and his mother (i.e., Jim's grandmother) were among those who walked across the bridge.

8. THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

We found it interesting if not ironic that "The Struggle for Justice" in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture was advertised outside the building just as a pre-inaugural portrait of Donald Trump was hung inside the building -- a stark reminder that the struggle for justice will continue, and that it will be more challenging, more trying, and more imbalanced.

We have written extensively on Trump (many posts HERE), and we found it interesting that the National Portrait Gallery chose the very portrait that Trump credits with his decision to "go orange" -- after photographer Michael O'Brien handed him the orange as a prop for the photograph.

"I liked the look of that orange," said Trump. "I liked its feel."

Another interesting fact about the photograph: O'Brien worried Trump's hands looked too small for the picture, so he edited in the hands of Clint Eastwood.

The Art Has Its Reasons -- Part 2

8/10/2016

Yesterday we wrote about current and future art exhibits we are co-sponsoring with other museums around the country. For information for shows on Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and artwork related to German philosopher and poet Emil E. Dichundsohn, click HERE.

There are other major exhibitions in the works, including the following:

1. We are currently in talks with the Whitney Museum of American Art to co-sponsor a major retrospective on Edward Hopper, and artist who was greatly influenced by the work of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request). The show, called “Edward Hopper’s Emmett Lee Dickinson: The Definitive Nighthawk,” will open in the spring of 2017.

Information about a past exhibit on Hopper is HERE.

Pictured above on the right: The poster for the Whitney-ELD exhibit on Hopper includes a section of Hopper's masterpiece "Nighthawks" -- the figure of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) sitting in a diner. (Click the image to enlarge.)

2. Also in the spring of 2017, the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard in historic Washerst, PA) will join with the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA, to co-sponsor “Lampapolooza,” a landmark exhibit devoted to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s bond with Emmett Lee Dickinson.

For a short time in his life, Emmett Lee Dickinson worked as a child psychologist, and he realized that that young Louis Tiffany suffered from PTPZS, Post-Traumatic Petting Zoo Syndrome, stemming from a distressing and horrific encounter with a small goat outside a corn crib at a petting zoo. Dickinson treated Tiffany for years, and thanks to his untiring and persistent efforts, Tiffany was finally able to overcome his unfounded fears of flora and fauna – and he went on later in life to produce beautiful stained glass lampshades which depicted the very terrors of his youth.

Pictured at the left: A promotional poster for Lampapolooza.

3. Finally, we are also in talks with Tate Modern in London, England, to co-sponsor another exhibit on Georgia O’Keeffe called “Clouds In My Coffee.” This exhibit will include many of O’Keeffe’s paintings based on the poems of Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson’s third cousin, twice removed – at her request). Some of the Dickinson-related paintings of O’Keeffe’s are HERE.

Pictured above: The promotional poster for the Tate Modern show includes Georgia O'Keeffe's painting, "Clouds In My Coffee." O'Keeffe was inspired to paint this work by Emmett Lee Dickinson's poem "A stirring thing – it was – I bid" which includes the line "Clouds – from Horizons – in my coffee."

In her autobiography Boys in the Trees, singer Carly Simon reported that O'Keeffe's painting and Emmett Lee Dickisnon's poem as among her favorite artworks. She also confessed that the subject of her song "You're So Vain" -- in which she uses the line "clouds in my coffee" -- was none other NBC Today Show weatherman Al Roker.

As soon as details become available on any other upcoming shows, we will let you know! Stay tuned to the ELDM website for the latest breaking news related to Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request).