George Tooker
1920–2011

Introduction

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. 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." 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.

Wikidata identifier

Q938221

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Accessed October 25, 2024.

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, lithographer, painter

ULAN identifier

500017656

Names

George Tooker, George Clair Jr. Tooker

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed October 25, 2024.





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