George Tooker
American painter from New York City (1920-2011) · United States · On the map · Artists · Died at 90
George Clair Tooker, Jr. was an American figurative painter. His works are associated with magic realism, social realism, photorealism, and surrealism.
George Tooker is read about 34 times a day, in 7 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 4 August 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?Also in Deutsch
Awards
About this person
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.