Painter, George Tooker 1921-2011

 

Vermont painter, George Tooker died last Sunday, March 27, 2011, at the age of 90. Unfortunately, there isn’t a really good source on the web Tooker’s works, here are some details I got from the always dependable lines and colors blog.

Tooker’s paintings, painstakingly and deliberately rendered in the demanding Renaissance medium of egg tempera, evoke loneliness, alienation, and the dehumanizing forces of modern society. Some of his works are well known, almost iconic images, though his name is not a household word.

His enigmatic scenes of eclipsed faces, half glimpsed figures and slack bodied individuals with haunted expressions seem to portray people resigned to their fate as the invisible vampires of modern existence drain away their life and humanity, though there are occasional glimpses of light and life disconcerting, but powerful and unforgettably resonant images.