All over NYC people are making art, or at least trying to, and Thisbe, as an artists’ model, gets to watch some of them.

The most challenging part of being a model is holding perfectly still for sustained periods of time. Thisbe’s quite good at this, although when she gets tired she does occasionally fall over backward without warning.

For this painting class, she has come in costume. She chose to dress as the woman in Edward Hopper’s 1927 painting, Automat.

Thisbe has always loved this painting. To her, it is a quintessential NYC painting in the way it depicts solitude in a public space. When Thisbe looks at it, she sees a woman taking a moment out of her busy life to contemplate. It is dark outside in NYC, but this woman sits comfortably in a safe, clean, well-lighted place (an automat was basically a 1920s NYC Starbucks). It is cold outside, but under the protection of her coat we can see what looks like a dressy dress, and then there’s the unambiguously fantastic yellow-orange hat.

Automat is frequently cited as an example of Hopper’s interest in “urban alienation” and “isolation.” Art critics and experts have described this woman as “confined,” “self-conscious and slightly afraid,” “distanced from society,” and “as if she has knocked against a hard corner of the world.”

When she gets to these descriptions, Thisbe just has to stop reading. Where in the painting is there evidence for these conclusions? Thisbe has to assume that people (men) see sadness and loneliness there simply because the woman is by herself and unsmiling. But Thisbe believes that a woman who wears a hat like that is a full participant in life.

Thisbe identifies strongly with this woman. She likes being alone, and thinks that one of the great things about being alone is that you don’t have to smile. In fact, people who smile when they’re alone look (probably are) psychotic.

Thisbe particularly loves the mystery of the woman’s single glove. Did she lose the other? Does she keep the one on because the cup is very hot? Is it just a statement of some kind? Did Hopper run out of black paint?

Posing is hard work. During her breaks, Thisbe lounges around with the still-life props, imagining herself in paintings of all kinds. But Automat is the painting she really sees herself in. She feels as if she is in it already.

Thisbe is made from more swap table batik fabric. Thanks again to my sharp-eyed mom. Her coat is made from a sweater, with collar and cuffs cut from a shoe bag. Her dress is a silky lining, her hat is gold felt, and her one glove is cut from a sock.

Automat was selected by Time magazine as the cover image for a 1995 story about stress and depression in the 20^th Century.

Automat is owned by the Des Moines Art Center. Do people experience “urban isolation” in Des Moines?

What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.

—Edward Hopper

Special thanks to Nancy Johnson.