Still Light at Two Lights 2023

Still Light
at Two Lights 2023

where Edward Hopper painted in
1929 at Dyer Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Maine by
the now Lobster Shack, plein air on May 26, 2023,
7" x 5" (w x h), Daniel Smith, Schmincke Horadam,
and Winsor & Newton watercolors, selected for light
fastness and permanence, and Uniball waterproof fade
proof ink on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press rough
100% cotton extra white watercolor paper,
framed, $150, for sale online at my art blog

Edward Hopper Art

Dyer Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Light at Two Lights
Edward Hopper (1882-1967, American
Watercolor and graphite pencil on paper,
20" x 14" (w x h), 1927
Whitney Museum of American Art

The Lighthouse at Two Lights
Edward Hopper (1882-1967, American
Oil on canvas, 43" x 30" (w x h), 1929
The MET, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

This was the second time, 1929, that Edward and Jo Hopper summered in Cape Elizabeth, a pleasurable respite from New York City. He'd painted in this area extensively in the summer of 1927. This was his painting with knowledge, having worked out many of approaches. The perspectives, the light, the shadows, the colors, the clouds in the sky, are now refined in this oil painting. It was this painting that would be chosen to honor 150 years of Maine's statehood in 1970 on a U.S. postage stamp.

Cape Elizabeth, 1970 U.S. postage stamp
Edward Hopper (1882-1967, American
The year Edward Hopper painted The Lighthouse at Two Lights, U.S. first class postage was two cents. Forty-one years later, three years after Hopper's 1967 passing, in 1970, the year this painting appeared on a U.S. first class stamp, postage was only six cents in 1970. Fifty three years later in 2023 a first class postage stamp is sixty-three cents.

U.S. First Class Postage
1929: 2 cents
1970: 6 cents
2023: 63 cents

This is only one of five U.S. first class stamps that Edward Hopper's paintings were on. The four other paintings that appear on US stamps are:

U.S. First Class Postage Stamp 2020, 55 cents

Sea at Ogunquit
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), American
Oil on canvas, 29" x 24" (w x h), 1914
Whitney Museum of Art, New York

Hopper's art not only appeared on the 150th Maine statehood stamp but another painting on the 200th Maine statehood.

U.S. First Class Postage Stamp 2011, 41 cents

The Long Leg
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), American
Oil on canvas, 30" x 20" (w x h), 1935
The Huntington Library, Art Museum,
and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California

U.S. First Class Postage Stamp 1998, 32 cents

Automat
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), American
Oil on canvas, 35" x 28" (w x h), 1927
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA

U.S. First Class Postage Stamp 1998, 32 cents

Nighthawks
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), American
Oil on canvas, 60" x 33" (w x h), 1942
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Only a part of this painting appeared on the stamp, featuring the three central figures. Hopper's paintings have also appeared on foreign stamps including these countries: Åland (Finland), Eritrea, France, Guinea, Maldives, and Togo.

Strange but True Fact:
Of the five US postage stamps featuring Edward Hopper art, two of them painted in Maine, 1914 and 1929, none of them included any of the many paintings from his summers on Maine's iconic Monhegan Island, 1916-1919.