Painting from the Butler is part of Paris exhibition

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Edward Hopper’s “Pennsylvania Coal Town,” one of the best-loved works from the collection of The Butler Institute of American Art, is currently on view at the Galeries Nationales, Grand Palais in Paris.

The Butler’s painting joins works from other prominent American museums, including New York’s Whitney Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago, as part of an important Hopper retrospective, the first ever to be staged in Paris.

The exhibition has crowds flocking to the Grand Palais, an iconic Paris landmark located on the Champs-Elysees, that was built as an exhibition hall for the 1900 World’s Fair.

Hopper, known above all for his paintings of the United States, first honed his art in Paris in the early 20th century before returning to New York to perfect his melancholic style, which often shows scenes from the everyday life of the American middle class.

“Pennsylvania Coal Town” (painted in 1947) is one such work, and a highlight of this Paris retrospective. Recent European exhibits of American art have also included the Butler ºs Edward Hopper master painting, including a 2010 exhibition at the Fondation Hermitage in Switzerland, as well as recent exhibits in London, Rome and Berlin.

Other works from the Butler’s famous collection have recently been seen by art audiences worldwide.

Everett R. Kinstler ºs “Portrait of Will Barnet” was seen recently at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Mass.; and Martin Johnson Heade’s “Salt Marsh Hay” was on view at the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands.

Other Butler works soon to be loaned include: Joseph Sheppard ºs “Mr. Mack ºs Fighter ºs Gym” will travel to the University of Maryland Art Museum; Edward Potthast ºs “Afternoon Fun” will be on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum; two works by Thomas Sully will be loaned to the Milwaukee Art Museum (Wisconsin); William Ranney ºs “On the Wing” will travel to the Allentown Museum of Art (Pennsylvania); Maurice Prendergast ºs “Sunset and Sea Fog” will be included in an exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (Maine); and Sidney Goodman ºs “The Artist ºs Parents in the Store” will travel to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC).