New exhibit opens window into artist Edward Hopper

"Window into Edward Hopper" at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which opens on May 28, will show some of the American artist's early sketches, etchings and water colors in a rare glimpse into his early development.

"Our curatorial focus is to look at the maturing of his artistic vision to try to understand how he became what he was," said Paul S. D'Ambrosio, chief curator at the Fenimore.

The exhibit, which features works drawn from private collections, contrasts Hopper's early life drawings with the startling turn he takes as he begins to find his own definitive style.

"Hopper's greatest, most original print, 'Night Shadows' (1921) uses a plunging perspective that is both exhilarating and disorienting and that sets up an anxious relationship with the street below," wrote Carol Troyen, author of Edward Hopper, in an article written for the Fenimore's exhibition.

There have been many big Hopper exhibitions, but none have had the Fenimore's focus on earlier works, according to D'Ambrosio.