He was born August 5, 1920 , in New York City and was named after his father. As a kid he took art lessons and spent quite a bit of time hanging around museums. For school, he went to Philips Academy and transferred to Harvard University to graduate with an English degree. For his art career he went to study under Reginald Marsh at the Art Students League of New York. Here he got most of his artistic influence at the start of his career.
George Tooker did lots of impressionist paintings in the late 1900s. They were all mainly for social and political characteristics. This is because of the wars and impacts it had during his time. Most of his work had negative connotations on how people are feeling during those trying times.
“George Tooker’s work expressed a 20th-century brand of anxiety and alienation. Above, “The Subway” from 1950.
Credit…Whitney Museum of American Art” (William Grimes)
This piece from the 1950s, shows the lives of office works being alienated and isolated. All the colors are very similar and it feels as though theres no way out. Gates are all over the place and the people in the painting look super anxious or nervous.
George Tooker, The Waiting Room, 1959, egg tempera on wood, 24 x 30 in. (61.0 x 76.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1969.47.43
This creepy drawing made in 1959, showing the frustrating times that George Tooker had at the bureaucracy while trying to obtain permits. He shows how worn down everyone is. Something I notice is his color palette is the same as The Subway. This is probably how he saw everyone in real life. Realistic and mundane.
Citation:
drawing into space 