Six oil paintings Edward Hopper made as a teenager were copies of other artists' works, according to biographer Louis Shadwick. Created when Hopper was about 15 or 16, the paintings were long viewed as early original compositions.
The works were discovered in the attic of Hopper's childhood home in Nyack, New York, in the late 1960s, after his death. Among them, Old Ice Pond at Nyack reproduces Bruce Crane's A Winter Sunset, while Rowboat on Hudson copies an image titled Lake View. Both source images appeared in color plates in the periodical Art Interchange.
Other identified copies include Country Road, based on a work by John Francis Murphy; Ships, after Edward Moran; and Clipper Ship Being Towed by Tug, after Fred Pansing. Some paintings bear Hopper's signature or initials.
Shadwick interprets the signatures as signs of a young artist's pride in learning and practicing, rather than an attempt to pass off copies as original works. The findings add context to Hopper's development, highlighting how study and imitation helped shape his artistic foundations. They also show how reassessing early works can deepen understanding of an artist's creative journey.
