Edward Hopper, “French Six-Day Bicycle Rider”, 1937, Oil on Canvas, 43.8 x 48.9 cm, Private Collection
In the 1800s, the invention of the safety bicycle initiated a cycling craze in America. Designed by English engineer Harry John Lawson in 1878, the first model of the ‘safety bike” was unlike previous bicycles in that the rider’s feet could reach the ground, which made it easier to stop. The pedals powered the rear wheel and kept the rider’s feet safely away from the front wheel. The chain drive allowed for much smaller wheels and replaced the need for the directly pedaled front wheel of previous bicycles. Although the smaller wheels gave a harsher ride, the introduction of pneumatic tires, which replaced the previous solid ones, overcame that disadvantage.
Edward Hopper as a teenager in his hometown of Nyack, New York, was an avid cyclist. The freedom of both cycling and drawing freed him from the confines and boredom of small town life in the 1890s. During his early years, Hopper drew many bicycling scenes, two of which are “Study of a Man in the Bike Shop”, the interior of a bike shop whose owner is working on bike tires, and “Meditation: 10 Miles from Home”, a self portrait standing in knickers and argyle socks, staring at his bike’s flat front tire.
The inspiration for Hopper’s 1937 “French Six-Day Bicycle Rider” came from his watching bicycle races in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He remembered the rider, young and very French in appearance, who was resting while the his team mate was on the track. Early sketches for the painting show slightly different perspectives. In his notes for the final painting, Hopper chose to use the perspective from his 1921 etching, “The Night Shadows”, which depicts a street scene seen from an upper window.
In his painting, Edward Hopper simplified the scene and focused on the emotional isolation of the rider. Strong diagonal lines cut across the scene. The young male assistant, whose slender form contrasts with the muscular rider, is shown opening the sleeping curtain. Bicycles on the left and right balance the scene which includes details from a biker’s kit: a helmet hung on a peg and a water bottle near the French flag on the hut’s roof. Next to the bicycles in the foreground sits a bucket containing a bottle.
Hopper finished the oil on canvas painting on March 5, 1937.