Artless hours at the Whitney’s Hopper show as pipe bursts
Color them blue.
Fans of revered painter Edward Hopper were left on the outside looking in Saturday after a burst water pipe shut down a Whitney Museum exhibit of his works for several hours during the city’s deep freeze.
The Meatpacking District museum closed its doors at 99 Gansevoort St. after a fire alarm began ringing about 11:30 a.m. on the coldest day of the year, although the spewing pipe was later blamed for the abrupt building shutdown.
After emergency repairs in a staff-only area, the doors reopened with limited capacity at 3 p.m. — too late for some who traveled to Manhattan to enjoy the American realist’s works.
Hopper fan Connor Cantrell took the train down from Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County only to face a quick exit after entering the museum. “I had come specifically to see Edward Hopper,” said Cantrell, of Kingston. “I found my friends and we did coat check.
“After I had deposited my coat, we were informed it was time to leave. We almost slipped on the frozen water from the burst pipe.”
Linda Harris traveled from Chicago for the exhibit, noting her previous visit to the museum came during demonstrations at the Whitney a few years back over its board vice chairman’s ownership of a company manufacturing tear gas. “The last time we were here there was a huge protest,” said Harris, who returned to the city for a weekend of Broadway shows and the exhibit. “So the Whitney is not my best luck. We’re very disappointed, especially given how cold it is. But we certainly understand.”
Harris, who arrived in New York on Wednesday, was scheduled to head home Sunday, when regular operations were expected to resume.
The Whitney said the burst pipe did not affect any of its galleries or public spaces and offered free Saturday afternoon admission “if your schedule permits” to ticket buyers initially turned away earlier in the day.
Native New Yorker Hopper, who died in 1967, was renowned for city-inspired works including his most famous, “Nighthawks,” and “Early Sunday Morning.”
The “Edward Hopper’s New York” exhibit, billed as “a comprehensive look at Hopper’s life and work,” opened in October and was set to close March 5.
Hopper fan Sonya Astrin came from London for the show, only to learn of the burst pipe before heading inside. It could have been worse, she said, since she was staying right next door at The Standard Hotel.
“I think I would have been really p----d if I needed to travel, because it’s freezing,” she said.
Cantrell was unsure if he would return for a look at the exhibit before the show shuts down.
“I’m hoping I do,” he said. “But potentially not.”