4161 - Fenton, Missouri, United States

Fenton is a suburb of St. Louis of about 4000 people. Reading about Fenton, it sounds like a nice place to life. There are a lot of parks and activities for local residents to do, and many employment opportunities. Upon further reading, I was interested in the Fenton Mounds - two conical earthen burial mounds in south west Fenton. They dated back to 1050-1400. However, in 2001, the mounds were levelled for construction of a Walmart Supercenter. 

This card features Cottages at North Truro by American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967). He is renowned for depicting modern American life and landscapes. He worked with oil, watercolours, and etchings. Hopper explored the themes of loneliness and isolation with American urban and rural settings. Nighthawks (1942) is considered his most famous painting and has been used in homages and parodies. Nighhawks depicts four people in a downtown diner late at night as viewed through the diner's large glass window. The light coming from the diner illuminates a darkened and deserted urban streetscape. 

Hopper married Josephine Nivison (1883-1968) in 1924, who was also an artist. She played a significant role in managing his career and modelling for many of his works. 

Upon Hopper and Nivison's deaths, 10 month apart in 1967-68, their joint collection of over 3000 pieces where bequethed to the Whitney Musuem in Manhattan. There are also significant collections of Hopper's paintings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Des Moines Art Center, and Art Institute of Chicago.