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| George Luks by Robert Henri 1904 oil on canvas 194 x 97 cm |
George Benjamin Luks (1867-1933) was a pioneer realist, a member of "The Eight," and a vigorous opponent of academic and conservative standards in subject matter. He was born in Williamsport, Pa. in 1867. In about 1884 he entered the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts but soon made his way to Europe, where he remained for several years. His chronology and many details of his life remain obscure because of the extravagant claims he made about exploits which seem to have been wholly fictitious. At Düsseldorf he acquired a taste for sombre colours and became an admirer of Rembrandt and Frans Hals. He abandoned Düsseldorf for the more stimulating spheres of London and Paris. He then returned to Philadelphia in 1893 where he was an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press where he met John Sloan, William Glackens, and Everett Shinn. They would meet at the studio of Robert Henri, an artist who emphasized the depiction of ordinary life, shunning genteel subjects and painting quickly. The group became known as the “Philadelphia Five.”
He was sent by the Bulletin to cover the Spanish-American War in 1895. His illustrations were lively and exciting but apparently largely imaginary, as was the story that he had been captured, sentenced to death, and deported. In 1896, Luks moved to New York and began his art career there as the premier humourist artist for the New York World. During his time as an illustrator there, he lived with William Glackens. Glackens, along with Everett Shinn and Robert Henri, encouraged him to paint seriously, and Luks developed an interest in painting "New York Street Life". The Philadelphia Five eventually became “The Eight.”
Luks made many paintings of working class subjects and scenes of the urban street. "Hester Street" captures the Jewish court through Luks's vigorously painted representation of immigrant shoppers, pushcart peddlers, casual strollers and curious onlookers of the ethnic variety that characterised metropolitan, turn-of-the century New York.
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| 1905 Hester Street oil on canvas 66.4 x 91.8 cm |
In 1905, Luks painted what would become one of his most famous works as well as an Ashcan School icon “The Spielers.”
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| 1905 The Spielers oil on canvas 91.8 x 66.7 cm |
Two young girls make up this painting. Their happy faces contrast with their grimy hands. George Luks successfully portrays lower-class children's ability to enjoy life despite their circumstances. He painted the truth, as he saw it. In regard to colour, Luks said himself when interviewed, "I'll tell you the whole secret! Colour is simply light and shade. You don't need pink or grey or blue so long as you have volume. Pink and blue change with light or time. Volume endures." Luks was a radical only in subject matter, not in style or technique. He was involved in the formation of the 1913 Armory Show, in which he was well represented. However, he was unable to understand or accept the genuinely radical European art, which was shown in America for the first time, and resigned from the society which had formed the show.
Luks, always lusty and belligerent, was apparently killed as the result of a tavern fight in October 1933, dying in New York on the streets which he had immortalised on many canvasses.
This is part 1 of a 4-part post on the works of George Luks:
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| 1884 Child Eating Apple graphite, pen and ink on paper 26.7 x 20.6 cm |
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| 1889 London Bus Driver oil on canvas 68.6 x 55.9 cm |
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| 1895 In Horte Fayal watercolour and graphite on cardboard 17.8 x 11.4 cm |
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| 1896 Havana, Cuba watercolour 39 x 20 cm |
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| 1899 Queen Liliokalani from Verdict magazine |
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| 1899 The Amateurs oil on canvas 61 x 45.7 cm |
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| 1900 In the Steerage oil on canvas 77.8 x 48.9 cm |
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| 1901 The Butcher Cart oil on canvas 55.9 x 68.6 cm |
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| c1902-10 Prospect Park oil on panel 28.5 x 21.5 cm |
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| 1904 Bear and Cubs conté crayon 25.2 x 17.8 cm |
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| 1904 Bear and Cubs conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bear conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bear conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bear conté crayon 25.4 x 17.8 cm17.8 |
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| 1904 Bears conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bears conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bears conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bears conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Bears conté crayon 25.4 x 17.8 cm |
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| 1904 Black Bear conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| 1904 Brown Bear conté crayon 17.8 x 25.4 cm |
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| c1904 Copley Square oil on canvas 50.8 x 61 cm |
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| c1904 Little Lore with Her Hat oil on canvas 101.6 x 76.2 cm |
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| 1905 Gramercy Park watercolour 41.3 x 61.3 cm |
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| 1905 The Sand Artist oil on canvs 74.9 x 73 cm |
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| 1905 The Wrestlers oil on canvas 122.9 x 168.6 cm |
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| c1905 Study for The Wrestlers conté crayon on paper 19.1 x 24.8 cm |
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| c1905 Allen Street oil on canvas 81.3 x 114.3 cm |
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| c1905 Child in Grey oil on canvas 50.8 x 38.1 cm |
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| c1905 Children Throwing Snowballs oil on canvas 41 x 51 cm |
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| c1905 The Pawnbroker's Daughter oil on canvas 64.1 x 76.2 cm |
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| c1905 The Rag Picker oil on canvas 66 x 55.9 cm |
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| c1907 Pals oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm |
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| c1907 The Little Madonna oil on canvas 69.5 x 56.5 cm cm |
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| 1908 The Guitar oil on canvas 72 x 74 cm |
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| c1908 At the Café oil on panel 24.8 x 34.9 cm |
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| c1908 Sulky Boy oil on canvas 111.8 x 86.4 cm |
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| 1909-10 Roundhouse at High Bridge oil on canvas 77.1 x 92 cm |
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| c1909 Lily Williams oil on canvas 44.7 x 39.5 cm |
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| c1910-15 The Wedding Cake oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm |
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| c1910 The North River, New York oil on canvas 52 x 62.2 cm |
A lovely selection of work I'm not familiar with...reminds me of Daumier and Lautrec, but there is definitely and American handwriting to his work which is nice.... :)
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