Tobacco Road

Road to Feltzen South, oil on board, 18"x24", Steven Rhude, Argyle Fine Art

 Nothing else in Wyoming or South Dakota caught his eye and by July 17 Edward was "glad to be back to the familiar" crossing Wisconsin: he had missed the rapport he felt with the usual architectural subjects and found the Western deserts and canyons "to impersonal." Curious, however, to see Lake Michigan, Edward imposed a detour through Gary, Indiana, where his slow driving on the way to the beach irritated two carloads of young men. As one honked at him from behind, he tried to pull over, almost colliding with the other, which was trying to pass him on the right. "Bastard!" he yelled, to Jo's consternation: "A man with his fine discriminations in the use of English has no business to talk Tobacco Road whenever he gets annoyed." The "hicks" in the restaurant where they stopped for lunch also offended Edward, so they made "short work" of Indiana, only to find Columbus, Ohio, "utterly depressing" and Cleveland "a dingy dump".

From Edward Hopper, an Intimate Biography, Gail Levin

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