I need information about George Tooker.Dear Visitor,
Dear Joan of Art,
I need information about George Tooker.Dear Visitor,
The following biographical entry is from Dictionary of American Art by Matthew Baigell (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1979):
"Tooker, George (b. 1920), a painter. From New York City, he studied at Art Students League from 1943 to 1944 under Reginald Marsh, Paul Cadmus, and Kenneth Hayes Miller. By the late 1940s, Tooker had settled upon his basic approach, using a scrupulously disciplined technique that harks back to the Italian Renaissance and preferring the egg-tempera medium above all others. His methods, which he shares with Cadmus and Jared French, are, in part, the legacy of Miller. Tooker's subject matter is the human condition as seen in the context of contemporary society. Many of his works are allegorical."
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has three works by Tooker in its collections. To get details, go to our website search page. Choose "Search for artists represented in the collection," in the box labeled "Artist's last name," type: "Tooker." In addition, The Waiting Room (shown above) is part of our traveling exhibition Scenes of American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Scenes is presently on view at the Albany Institute of History & Art in Albany, New York.You might wish to follow up with a trip to your local public library or university, where you can look up the following books:
Garver, Thomas H. George Tooker (New York: C.H. Potter: Distributed by Crown Publishers, 1985).
Baker, Susan Jane. George Tooker and the Modern Tradition (Ph.D. Thesis: University of Kansas, 1994).
Tooker, George. George Tooker: Paintings 1947–1973 (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1974) [ exhibition catalogue].
Heffernan, Ildiko. George Tooker: Working Drawings (Burlington, Vermont: University of Vermont, 1987) [exhibition catalogue].
I hope this information is helpful.
Sincerely, Joan of Art
Pictured: George Tooker, born 1920, The Waiting Room, 1959, egg tempera on wood, 24 x 30 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.