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George Luks
1866–1933
BirthplaceWilliamsport, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Death placeNew York, New York, United States of America
BiographyIn 1908 a group of eight artists under the leadership of Robert Henri exhibited at Macbeth Gallery in New York in reaction to the National Academy of Design’s conservative and exclusive exhibiting polices. As one of “The Eight,” George Luks was ensured a reputation as a rebel. A heavy drinker and engaging story-teller, the pugnacious artist had talent and confidence. His expressive paintings present a tableau of everyday life.
Luks was raised in the mining town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, by parents who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. His parents were well-educated; his physician father taught him to respect the “common” man and his mother encouraged his love of the arts. He moved to Philadelphia in 1883 where his art studies were intermittent, including a night class at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was enrolled briefly in art academies in Düsseldorf, Munich, and Paris during an extended stay in Europe. When he returned to Philadelphia in 1894, he worked as an artist-reporter for the Philadelphia Press with other artist-illustrators including John Sloan and William Glackens.
Luks’s move to New York City in 1896 allowed his high-spirited personality to flourish. The urban realism of his early works—tonal scenes of the city’s working classes—is also associated with some fellow members of The Eight (who were derisively christened the “Ashcan school” in 1934). Yet after 1912 Luks’s move to a large house in upper Manhattan (at Edgecombe Road and Jumel Place) signaled his new position within the artistic establishment. From then on, his palette brightened and he experimented with various aspects of modernism, including a postimpressionist style that was apparently influenced by fellow member of The Eight Maurice Prendergast.
Luks was raised in the mining town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, by parents who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. His parents were well-educated; his physician father taught him to respect the “common” man and his mother encouraged his love of the arts. He moved to Philadelphia in 1883 where his art studies were intermittent, including a night class at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was enrolled briefly in art academies in Düsseldorf, Munich, and Paris during an extended stay in Europe. When he returned to Philadelphia in 1894, he worked as an artist-reporter for the Philadelphia Press with other artist-illustrators including John Sloan and William Glackens.
Luks’s move to New York City in 1896 allowed his high-spirited personality to flourish. The urban realism of his early works—tonal scenes of the city’s working classes—is also associated with some fellow members of The Eight (who were derisively christened the “Ashcan school” in 1934). Yet after 1912 Luks’s move to a large house in upper Manhattan (at Edgecombe Road and Jumel Place) signaled his new position within the artistic establishment. From then on, his palette brightened and he experimented with various aspects of modernism, including a postimpressionist style that was apparently influenced by fellow member of The Eight Maurice Prendergast.