Zanni Lamp is an extension of my visual arts history final project, where I dissected Edward Hopper’s final painting, Two Comedians (1965). By reading Hopper’s biography, based on his and his wife Josephine's diaries, I introduced myself to their relationship and traced back his references for his goodbye letter to painting. He drew from Carné's Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) and its all-encompassing stage, following the characters’ private lives and their onstage roles as Zannis (servants).
Two Comedians (1965), Edward HopperLes Enfants du Paradis (1945), Marcel Carné
The theatricality and poetics behind the constant performance an artist is exposed to are epitomised in this painting as Hopper and Josephine bow down to their public, knowing he was never to produce again as his health was in decline. The emotional impact it produced led me to want to materialise the visuals and take from Hopper’s perception of grief translated onto the white costumes.