Dike Blair – Matinee

This volume builds on a developing body of scholarship linking the American painters Dike Blair and Edward Hopper (1882–1967) to each other. Matinee foregrounds the realism of Blair and Hopper within the context of the utter irreality of the movies. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, this volume features a conversation between Helen Molesworth (curator) and Blair that takes as its jumping-off point Hopper’s painting New York Movie (1939).In both Hopper’s tableaux and Blair’s mise-en-scènes, light is a character in its own right, whether casting an eerie pallor on a desolate interior or illuminating the lip of a half-drunk glass; both artists imply narratives without offering definitive plots, inviting the viewer to stitch together a story from images and absences.

72 pages, 22.9 x 17.8 cm, hardcover, Karma (New York).