I recently went to see the Edward Hopper exhibit, which still has a few days left at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Lovely stuff --- the iconic Nighthawks, many other famous pictures I'd only seen in books, and a few supposedly famous ones that I hadn't.

As usual for these exhibits, I wanted to wrap up by seeing some related work (as I'd followed up the earlier Monet exhibit by looking with newer eyes at the New England luminist paintings which had addressed similar concerns of light in a rather different way). In Hopper's case, this would be art from the "ashcan school" of New York at the turn of the 20th century --- a clear influence on Hopper. And, by luck, the MFA has a few fine examples in its collection, so I headed down stairs.

The MFA is currently prepping for construction, though, on a major extension, which has really cut down on available gallery space. The Luminists are still up on the walls, due perhaps to their New England connections. A place has been found for the Winslow Homers in an out-of-the-way rotunda. But choices must be made. While Hopper is upstairs, the gallery that formerly held the ashcan paintings, and American work of similar vintage, is now given over to some donor's jewelry collection.