AUTOMAT

Ooops – I somehow overlooked yesterday being World Bee Day! I hope Polly and Billi can find it in their little hearts to forgive me…

 

Anyway, here is Byron to talk you through the finer points of Wilson's latest Art Recreation: Automat by Edward Hopper.

 

'Automat was painted in 1927 by the American Realist Painter Edward Hopper,' he began, with the easy confidence of a friendly professor of Art History.

 

He continued, 'The painting portrays a lone anteater staring into a cup of coffee in an automat at night. The reflection of identical rows of light fixtures stretches out through the night-blackened window. 

 

'As is often the case in Hopper's paintings, both the anteater's circumstances and mood are ambiguous. There is a small empty plate on the table, in front of his cup and saucer, suggesting that he may have eaten a snack and been sitting at this spot for some time. 

 

'The restaurant appears to be largely empty and there are no signs of activity (or of any life at all) on the street outside. This adds to the sense of loneliness, and has caused the painting to be popularly associated with the concept of urban alienation. One critic has observed that, in a pose typical of Hopper's melancholic subjects, "The anteater's eyes are downcast and his thoughts turned inward." Another critic has described him as "Gazing at his coffee cup as if it were the last thing in the world he could hold on to."'