Louis Shadwick at Literary Hub:
Edward Hopper had certainly started Nighthawks, his iconic vision of a sparsely populated New York diner aglow with artificial light, by late November 1941. When Arnold Newman photographed him in front of the empty canvas that month, Hopper had clearly decided the picture’s dimensions; he had also probably completed many of the nineteen preparatory sketches in both pencil and chalk, several of which featured numeric notes detailing how to scale up the composition to its final form.
As winter set in, Hopper made numerous excursions, trekking up to the Dixie Kitchen diner in Midtown to sketch the coffee urns, as well as salt and pepper shakers, cups, and napkin dispensers. For the figures, Hopper modeled himself for the two suited men using a full-length mirror, while Jo modeled for the auburn woman clad in burgundy. The blond barman Edward dreamed up from scratch, though Jo recognized this character as “practically Capt. Ed Staples,” suggesting once again the resurgence of Hopper’s painterly alter ego.
More here.