Partner William R. Christopher
Queer Places:
Phillips Academy, 180 Main St, Andover, MA 01810, Stati Uniti
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
The Art Students League of New York, 215 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019, Stati Uniti
77 State St, Brooklyn, NY 11201, Stati Uniti
249 Beaver Dam Rd, Brookhaven, NY 11719, Stati Uniti
9 W 18th St, New York, NY 10011, Stati Uniti
Hartland, VT, Stati Uniti
St. Francis of Assisi, 28 Union St, Windsor, VT 05089, Stati Uniti
SeaView Cemetery, 233 N Country Rd, Mt Sinai, NY 11766, Stati Uniti
George Clair Tooker, Jr. (August 5, 1920 – March 27, 2011) was an American
figurative painter. His works are associated with Magic realism, Social
realism, Photorealism and Surrealism.[1][2]
His subjects are depicted naturally as in a photograph, but the images use
flat tones, an ambiguous perspective, and alarming juxtapositions to suggest
an imagined or dreamed reality. He did not agree with the association of his
work with Magic realism or Surrealism, as he said, "I am after painting
reality impressed on the mind so hard that it returns as a dream, but I am not
after painting dreams as such, or fantasy."
[2]
In 1968, he was elected to the National Academy of Design and was a member of
the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Tooker was one of nine recipients of
the National Medal of Arts in 2007.[3]
Tooker acknowledged the need for other art to support his development
process. He spent much of his free time reading painting and sculpture books,
studying the works of antiquity up to 20th-century art in an effort to augment
his artistic vision. He was particularly interested in Classical sculpture,
Flemish painting and sculpture, Italian Renaissance painting and sculpture,
Dutch Golden Age painting, 17th-century French art, Neue Sachlichkeit art, and
Mexican art of the 1920s and 1930s. Some individuals that influenced Tooker
include Italian artists Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca; American
artists Jared French,
Edward Hopper, Paul Cadmus,
Honoré Desmond Sharrer, and Henry Koerner.[2]
Early in his career, Tooker's work was often compared with painters such as
Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, and his close friends
Jared French and
Paul Cadmus.[5]
by
George Platt Lynes
PaJaMa (PAUL CADMUS, JARED FRENCH, AND MARGARET FRENCH)
George Tooker, Nantucket.
Silver print, the image measuring 171.5x108 mm; 6 3/4x4 1/4 inches, with Paul Cadmus' credit, title, date, and inscription "PMJ 11076," in pencil, and a Collection of Paul Cadmus hand stamp and a Collection of Jon Anderson hand stamp, on verso. 1946
9 W 18th St
In 1960, Tooker and his partner, painter
William Christopher (March 4,
1924 – December 5, 1973), moved into a house they had built in Hartland,
Vermont. He was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and participated in one
of the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965.[1]
He taught at the Art Students League of New York from 1965 to 1968.[3]
He spent his winters in Málaga, Spain. A few years after Christopher's death,
Tooker converted to Catholicism. His faith was very important to him, as he
was very much involved with his local church.
Tooker died at the age of 90 in his home in Hartland, Vermont due to kidney
failure.[4]
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
