Seeterlin 1

Jason Seeterlin
Ms. Dockus
American Literature
25 October 2015
Response to Office in a Small City by Edward Hopper
Have you ever felt removed from your surroundings, or had an out-of-body experience? I
think that those feelings are shown very well in the oil painting Office in a Small City by
Edward Hopper. An out of body experience is our own way of creating new self-perspective by
detaching ourselves from our bodies. We do this all the time whenever we stare out a car
window, gaze at the horizon, or simply stare off into space and daydream. Office in a Small
City shows this creatively by showing a man alone in his office and staring off at the cityscape
around him instead of focusing on his work. I feel as if this painting is connected to me because I
also am periodically looking out the window while writing this response. Both I and the man in
the painting remove ourselves from our work and take time to enjoy our surroundings without
actually moving.
The white walls of the office building and the blue sky over the city help draw attention
to the man inside and frame the other objects. The mans desk is large compared to him,
suggesting that the amount of work he does on it is large. In the lower right corner we can see a
part of the office buildings decorative facade, which expresses the elaborate gilding we put on
our own toil and work. Despite working in a comfy corner office, the man still appears isolated
and contained as if he were in a prison cell. The mans office tells us nothing about what
profession the man holds, and he is not exhibiting any emotion. This both leaves him to be an
analog for the viewer, and shows his emotional isolation as well.

Seeterlin 2
This artwork expresses my theme of individuality because while the man is clearly meant
to appear ordinary given his typical clothes and dress, he becomes his own individual person
simply by choosing to ignore his work and gaze out at his surroundings. The man is visibly
isolated and alone, and that is where his own individuality can come out. If the man were
working, we could assume he was focusing on work and forget about the image. But his looking
out the window leaves us pondering what it is he is focused on. Is he daydreaming? Has he
noticed something off in the distance? Is there something stuck on the window? These questions
are what makes this painting work and are what make the man an individual.

Hopper, Edward. Office in a Small City. 1953. Painting. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
City.

Portfolio Response Assessment

Content
5/5
Grammar/Style
5/5
MLA/WC
4/5
14/15