Vivien Green Fryd Edward Hopper and the Marriage-in-Crisis Debates during the Interwar Years (Summary) The article discusses the work of the American scene painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967) in the context of the marriage crises debates of the inter-war years. It combines biography with formal and iconographical analysis of art works and sociological debates about modern marriage in order to show how these conflicts played out in the terrain of the artist's marriage, with an eye to the broader changes of American society that these paintings reflect. Hopper's paintings from the 1920's and 1930's reflect the tensions of the transformation of American society from small-town farming life to big-city industrial existence, from the single-family home to the multi-dwelling apartment building. Some works portray the ideas of an era quickly passing, with stately homes surrounded by manicured lawns and friendly neighbors. Others reflect the new style of apartment living, with vertical buildings that seem to overwhelm nature, emphasizing the anonymity of the new urban culture. These reflect the anxiety in the sociological discourse of the time that predicted the disintegration of marriage as people abandoned the small town for the city. A second impact evident in Hopper's work is the importance of the automobile. The automobile was both hailed as a boon for families and its impending destruction. While it allowed women to perform household tasks more efficiently and promoted family trips, it also opened the door to unsupervised dating and the ability to engage in extra-marital affairs. In Hopper's own life, the automobile was the source of tension and arguments. His paintings reflect the isolation created by the automobile and the mobile society that results. Another set of paintings included here depict couples. They are shown here together in a way that shows their distance from one another, both emotional and physical. His final painting, also included, reflects a later age. The man and woman, modeled after Hopper and his wife, have overcome their isolation from each other and have entered into a relationship of companionship and friendship. The ideal marriage of the interwar years, with its mutual affection, shared interests, and support, also reflects a later age: the cold war ideology of marital security. The author summarizes that throughout Hopper's work, the sense of isolation within Hopper's paintings of homes extends beyond the threat of industrialization and urbanization to encompass the ideology of marriage-in-crisis within society at large and his own marriage-in-crisis.