George Tooker, Painter of Urban Dread, Dies at 90
MARCH 30, 2011 TAGS:
If you’ve ever felt alone amid the masses of New York City, or scared, bored or existentially threatened by the crush of urbanity, then the paintings of George Tooker, a mid-century artist who bucked the prevailing mood of abstraction and minimalism that dominated his day, might speak to you.
That sense of alienation while surrounded by the multitudes is a common enough experience. But Tooker’s paintings, often painstakingly made with soft, luminous color applied via egg tempura, evoked more than just dread.
They depicted people doing what people do – commuting, eating, waiting, living. Within his images, these generalized figures of humanity became almost mythic creatures. Our daily existence can be frightening, monotonous and depressing, but there is wonder even in that mundanity.
Tooker died on March 27th at the age of 90, but not without making a mysterious and powerful mark on the art world. While he was originally shunned by critics during his earlier period of productivity, his work sparked a renewed interest in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Subway (1950)
Lunch (1964)
The Waiting Room (1969)
That sense of alienation while surrounded by the multitudes is a common enough experience. But Tooker’s paintings, often painstakingly made with soft, luminous color applied via egg tempura, evoked more than just dread.
They depicted people doing what people do – commuting, eating, waiting, living. Within his images, these generalized figures of humanity became almost mythic creatures. Our daily existence can be frightening, monotonous and depressing, but there is wonder even in that mundanity.
Tooker died on March 27th at the age of 90, but not without making a mysterious and powerful mark on the art world. While he was originally shunned by critics during his earlier period of productivity, his work sparked a renewed interest in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Subway (1950)
Lunch (1964)
The Waiting Room (1969)
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