=C2=
=AB BROADCAST=20
02 - The Yankee Doodle Reality show | Main | TO=
E in the=20
Boston GLOBE =C2=BB
October 12, 2004
Broadcast 02 extra
![](3D"http://www.toeradio.org/images/hopper1.jpg"=20)
One of my guests in this =
week's program=20
is Dr. Gail Levin, author of many=20
books=20
on the American Realist painter Edward Hopper. In 1949, she says, he =
painted=20
this picture, called Conference at Night. Now, one of Hopper's =
patrons=20
was Stephen Clark, the millionaire owner of the Singer Sewing machine =
company.=20
He bought this painting and took it home. But his wife freaked out and =
made him=20
return it because she "found Conference looked too much like a Communist =
gathering." For Dr. Levin, Mrs. Clark's comment reflects the extremes of =
American paranoia in the early moments of the Cold War. But, Hopper was =
a very=20
conservative guy. He didn't even vote for FDR - So you can only imagine =
his=20
frustration! This story, Dr Levin believes, explains why something like =
Abstract=20
Expressionism would end up being something so attractive to artists in =
the=20
1950s. But, all that CIA cash certainly helped as well!
Posted by bw at October 12, 2004 11:01=20
AM