This article is just ridiculous. The click-bait is subtle, but it's definitely there - play off of current political divisions in an attempt to get more eyeball

This article is just ridiculous. The click-bait is subtle, but it's definitely there - play off of current political divisions in an attempt to get more eyeballs on this story. The reason I say that is that the conclusions of the people quoted in the article do not at all follow from what was discovered. The works were from Hopper's "early" years, but only once or twice was it mentioned that "early" in this case means "when he was a teenager". Every single artist copies work from others when they are teenagers. It's how you learn. I'd be more surprised if he didn't copy works from others when he was that young. > “What is this Americanness that people are identifying? Where does it come from, is it useful as a term?” — Mr. Shadwick said those are the questions at the heart of his study of Hopper I'm sorry, but those are frankly stupid questions to ask in light of discovering that a teenage Edward Hopper used reference material in his paintings.