Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center
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Tomokazu Matsuyama: Morning Sun
June 20 - October 5, 2025
Tomokazu Matsuyama, Morning Sun Dance (2025), 78 × 99 in. (198.12 x 251.46 cm),
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center is pleased to present Tomokazu Matsuyama: Morning Sun, an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by the contemporary Japanese American artist Tomokazu Matsuyama (Matsu). The exhibition offers a contemporary tribute to Edward Hopper's iconic 1952 painting Morning Sun (Columbus Museum of Art), delving into the complexities of solitude and life in a globalized, consumer-driven world—recurring themes in Matsu's work. To engage with Hopper's themes, Matsu intricately weaves together diverse visual references that reflect his cross-cultural background and observations of contemporary society. The exhibition will be on view from June 20 through October 5, 2025 with a members and public opening reception on the opening day at 6:30pm, (RSVP via Museum website.)
The exhibition centers around Matsu's new large-scale painting Morning Sun Dance. Of the work that inspired his painting, Matsu says, "While Hopper's Morning Sun captures a moment of introspective stillness within the psychological landscape of mid-century urban life, his treatment of solitude, light, and constructed space continues to influence my own approach to thinking about isolation as well as my approach to painting."
In Morning Sun, Hopper depicts a woman sitting on her bed in the sun, alone in an empty room, wearing a plain orange dress and a simple, contemplative expression. In Morning Sun Dance, Matsu paints a solitary woman with a similarly meditative demeanor. However, her environment is far more richly layered: the room is filled with personal artifacts—dogs, magazines, and a luxurious couch—reflecting contemporary material life. Notably, the presence of dogs, while suggesting companionship, also references historical depictions such as Toutou, le bien aimé (1885) by Rosa Bonheur and A Nurse and a Child in an Elegant Foyer (1663) by Jacob Ochtervelt, in which dogs symbolized wealth and ownership. In Matsu's work, these animals subtly underscore solitude rather than alleviate it—suggesting not connection, but the heightened self-awareness of being alone. The woman's clothing fuses Western and Japanese motifs—a William Morris textile layered with traditional patterns—while a Sports Illustrated poster of Muhammad Ali nods to her alignment with diversity, strength, and modern identity. In contrast to Hopper's figure, who gazes outward toward the cityscape, Matsu's subject turns inward, facing her domestic space. This shift in gaze implies a broader narrative: solitude, once externalized and meditative, is now negotiated through personal space and cultural consumption.
The exhibition will also feature Matsu's process drawings, which reveal how the artist engaged with Hopper's use of light, figuration, and abstraction. Two additional smaller paintings by Matsu also reinterpret Hopper's iconic figure in the orange dress—one from Hopper's original perspective, and the other from an external vantage point, as if observing the figure from the outside. The small painted compositions are Matsu's starting point, where he establishes the chromatic atmosphere and sensory experience he delivers.
"This exhibition offers a fascinating dialogue between two artists from different eras, both grappling with the complexities of modern life and the experience of solitude," says Kathleen Motes Bennewitz, Executive Director of the Edward Hopper House Museum. "Matsu's vibrant and layered response to Hopper's work invites us to reconsider themes of isolation and introspection through a contemporary lens, highlighting the enduring relevance of Hopper's vision while embracing new perspectives."
Tomokazu Matsuyama: Morning Sun is made possible, in part, by SRI Fine Art Services, and funds provided by the New York Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
About Tomokazu Matsuyama: Born in 1976 in Gifu, Japan, Matsuyama is based in Brooklyn, New York. His work spans painting, sculpture, and installation, organically blending and reimagining diverse elements–such as ancient and modern, figurative and abstract, Eastern and Western. His art reflects his cross-cultural experiences and evolving nature of contemporary society in our information-driven world. Major public art projects include the Bowery Mural (New York, USA, 2019), Hanao (JR Shinjuku Station East Square, Tokyo, 2020), and Wheels of Fortune (Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, 2020, part of the Jingu Gaien Art Festival), Chicago Public Library, Edgewater Branch mural (2025). Recent notable exhibitions include Mythologiques (Venice Biennale, 2024), MATSUYAMA Tomokazu: Fictional Landscape (Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, 2023), and MATSUYAMA Tomokazu: Fictional Landscape (Shanghai Powerlong Museum, 2023); and Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &... (Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2024-2025). His works are in the permanent collections of LACMA, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA; The Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL, USA; The Royal Family, Prince of Dubai, UAE; Bank of Sharjah Collection, Dubai, UAE; Microsoft Collection, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, AK, and more.
About Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center
82 N. Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960
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The paintings of Edward Hopper (1882-1967) are exhibited in museums throughout the world, but there is only one place to discover the home that formed one of America's most iconic artists. Located 30 miles north of New York in the most charming Hudson River town in Rockland County, Edward Hopper House Museum is the historic family home (built 1858) where America's renowned artist was born and spent the first 26 years of his life. Visitors may explore exhibitions celebrating his legacy, early Hopper artworks, and his first studio. They can also explore the creative riverside village of Nyack that inspired Hopper's ideas about light, color and artistic subject matter in his paintings.
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