Male Nude

Edward Hopper invested this drawing with a bold frankness and palpable sense of realism that came from working from the live model in a class at the New York School of Art taught by Robert Henri, an influential teacher and leader of the Ashcan School of urban Realists (a drawing by Henri is displayed nearby). Hopper’s skills of close observation are evident in the model’s air of boredom as he holds the pose. The angled forms in the background suggest the tilted easels of other students, while the tiny sketch of a female nude at the upper right injects a note of bawdy humor. Hopper’s graphic talents earned him a teaching position at the school in 1905 and, subsequently, a successful early career as an illustrator.