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Ashcombe Museum of Art & History
Drawings & Watercolours

Lighthouse Village (also known as Cape Elizabeth)

Drawing

Details

Author / creator
Edward Hopper (American, 1882–1967)
Object type
Watercolour
Date or period
1929
Dimensions summary
Sheet: 40.5 × 63.3 cm
Place of origin
America
Acquisition method
Purchase
Credit line
Purchased with the National Heritage Memorial Fund, 1930
Paper / support
Laid paper
Catalogue raisonné
Levin W-228

About this object

Edward Hopper made this watercolor during the last of several painting excursions that he took to Maine. He had painted the lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth once two years before, but found the structure so interesting that he returned to it in this drawing. Hopper was especially attracted to the varying green tones of the grass and the combination of buildings, each with a different purpose, including one where the lighthouse keepers slept and the three at the bottom where coast guard families lived. He used a slightly different tone of watercolor for each of the structures to accurately convey the reflection of light on them.

Materials and technique

Watercolor with graphite and scraping on paper

Signature and marks

signed, lower right, in black gouache: Edward Hopper / Cape Elizabeth

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