Eight years ago on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, Edward Hopper’s 1929 painting, “Chop Suey”, was sold by Christie’s for $91.9 million, with fees. Christie’s website, December 12, 2018, had information about Hopper and chop suey. Two restaurants mentioned were Far East Tea Garden, at 10 (not 8) Columbus Circle, and Empire Chop Suey in Portland, Maine. (A photograph of Empire is at Gold Thread. One open bay window had an unobstructed view of the word suey.)
New York City had an abundance of illuminated chop suey signs. The Edison Monthly, July 1917, published photographs of the signs of Qwong Sy (2328 Broadway), The Republic (1481 Broadway) and Tai Sy Restaurant (1491 Broadway). In 1929 Berenice Abbott photographed a chop suey sign in Chinatown. No doubt Hopper saw several such signs as he strolled the city’s streets.
Far East Tea Garden was photographed many times but not as the main subject. The following photographs of the restaurant date from 1920 to around 1941.
November 20, 1920
Detail. Columbus Circle. A horizontal chop suey sign was on the south end of the building.
November 20, 1920
Detail. Columbus Circle. A horizontal chop suey sign was on the south end of the building.
1922
Detail. Gotham National Bank. A vertical sign (yellow box), on the north end of the Far East building, was in Irving Underhill’s photograph. Across West 59th Street was the Gotham National Bank Building.
Electrical Record, November 1923
Top of Far East’s illuminated chop suey sign (yellow arrow)
March 4, 1926
Detail. Columbus Circle. Author’s collection. Gotham National Bank merged with Manufacturers’ Trust Company in 1925.
Detail. Columbus Circle billboard space. Dark image enhanced for legibility.
How the signs of Empire Chop Suey and Hopper’s painting compare: the end strokes of the letters were different, flat in Empire and round in the painting. The long horizontal strokes of the letter E had three bulbs in the photograph and four in the painting.
In the signs of the painting and Far East photograph, the end strokes of the letters were round. Also, the letters E had the same number of bulbs. Underneath the letter Y, in the painting, were three parallel blue lines that correspond to three rows of lights in the photograph. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hopper used the Far East chop suey sign for reference.
By 1941 the bulb-illuminated sign had been replaced by a neon sign on the face of the building.
(Next post on Wednesday: Three Related Chinese Restaurants in New York City: Far East Tea Garden, Far East Restaurant and City Hall Tea Garden)
