George Tooker
1920
–2011
BirthplaceBrooklyn, New York, United States of America
Death placeHartland, Vermont, United States of America
BiographyGeorge Tooker's paintings and prints combine meticulous technique and a sense of brooding mystery to comment on the human condition. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Tooker grew up in suburban Long Island. As a child he took painting lessons from a family friend. Tooker attended Phillips Academy, an elite high school in Andover, Massachusetts, and in 1942 he graduated from Harvard, where he had majored in English and pursued his interest in art. Disturbed by the social inequalities and poverty he encountered in the rural mill towns near Andover and inspired by the politicized work of contemporary Mexican figural painters, he became interested in using his art to affect social change.
After Tooker was discharged from officer training school in the U.S. Marines during World War II due to illness brought on by stress, he enrolled in the Art Students League in New York. His teachers there included leading social realist painters, notably Reginald Marsh. In 1944, Tooker met painter Paul Cadmus, who introduced him to tempera painting. The artists spent six months together traveling and studying art in Italy and France in 1949. Later that year, Tooker met painter William Christopher (1923–1973), who became his lifelong companion. Tooker exhibited throughout the 1950s, with two major solo exhibitions at the Edwin Hewitt Gallery in New York City. In addition, the Whitney Museum purchased Tooker's best-known painting, Subway (1950) in 1953, and, that same year, the artist was commissioned to create set designs for the musical drama The Saint of Bleecker Street by Gian-Carlo Menotti. In 1960, Tooker and Christopher left New York City for Vermont, where they had already constructed a weekend home. Tooker taught at the Art Students League between 1965 and 1968, when they established a winter residence on the Mediterranean coast of Spain as Christopher's health deteriorated. Following his partner's death in 1973, Tooker returned to Vermont, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Typically working on a relatively small scale, Tooker perfected the Renaissance technique of egg tempera painting on wood panel; later, he also took up printmaking. Tooker's early work focused on social and public issues, such as the loneliness and alienation of modern urban existence. In the 1970s, the artist began to explore more personal, symbolic imagery, often drawn from the Bible, mythology, and classic literature.
After Tooker was discharged from officer training school in the U.S. Marines during World War II due to illness brought on by stress, he enrolled in the Art Students League in New York. His teachers there included leading social realist painters, notably Reginald Marsh. In 1944, Tooker met painter Paul Cadmus, who introduced him to tempera painting. The artists spent six months together traveling and studying art in Italy and France in 1949. Later that year, Tooker met painter William Christopher (1923–1973), who became his lifelong companion. Tooker exhibited throughout the 1950s, with two major solo exhibitions at the Edwin Hewitt Gallery in New York City. In addition, the Whitney Museum purchased Tooker's best-known painting, Subway (1950) in 1953, and, that same year, the artist was commissioned to create set designs for the musical drama The Saint of Bleecker Street by Gian-Carlo Menotti. In 1960, Tooker and Christopher left New York City for Vermont, where they had already constructed a weekend home. Tooker taught at the Art Students League between 1965 and 1968, when they established a winter residence on the Mediterranean coast of Spain as Christopher's health deteriorated. Following his partner's death in 1973, Tooker returned to Vermont, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Typically working on a relatively small scale, Tooker perfected the Renaissance technique of egg tempera painting on wood panel; later, he also took up printmaking. Tooker's early work focused on social and public issues, such as the loneliness and alienation of modern urban existence. In the 1970s, the artist began to explore more personal, symbolic imagery, often drawn from the Bible, mythology, and classic literature.