Film Noir

Edward  Hopper is  an American artist and eventually studied in France and was influenced by the French artist Degas which can be seen very much within his Paintings.He returned to the USA  to continue his work.

The  picture above is  an Edward Hopper  painting  titled House by the  railroad.

The Painting seems to depict light and darkness. The Tones and shading giving it this feel.
The Image seems to depict isolation and there is also a sinister look about the style of the Building. This   was used in the very famous Alfred Hichcock directed movie from 1960, Psycho.

Below  is another Edward Hopper Pictiure the Gas attendant again depicting clour tone and lighting and emphasing  isolation. There is a scene in the Psycho film in which there is a gas attendant incidentally.  

Here is a caption from the Psycho film in which he deigned the opening titles.This seems to be very stark and stripped down. This image gives a feel of menace  and also in a strange way isolation.

Of course both Edward Hopper and Saul Bass{May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996} are linked by this film, hence Edward Hoppers painting of the House used in Psycho and  Saul bass's Title scenes designs not forgetting his involvement in the shower scene and blood swirling down the sink scene, which was his idea and not the director Alfred Hitchcock.

Isolation Voyeurism Dark and light  imagery Antagonist protagonist influence sems to run throughout both these Artists work.Also the  relationship aspect side of thingsare icorporated in their works. Psycho paved the way for  risque scenes in future films  as pre 1960 scenes featuring visual kissing etc were quite taboo and only refernced   as innuendos.

 The Film Noir style is very much used in some of todays films.