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Home > Artists > George Luks

George Luks

Born: August 13, 1867 | Died: October 29, 1933

George Luks

Biography

George Luks was an American realist painter and comic illustrator, best known for his images of New York City and its inhabitants. Born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Luks worked as a vaudeville performer before moving to Philadelphia to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He traveled through Europe, where he attended several art schools and developed a particular admiration for Diego Velázquez, Frans Hals, and Édouard Manet. Even before leaving for Europe, Luks was publishing comic illustrations in Puck and Truth, and upon his return in 1893 he accepted a job as a newspaper illustrator at the Philadelphia Press. In 1896, the Press sent him to Cuba as a special correspondent to cover the mounting tensions there. Working at the Press, Luks befriended Everett Shinn, William Glackens, John Sloan, and Robert Henri.  

In 1896 Luks moved to New York City and began to work as an illustrator for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. He drew the comic strip Hogan's Alley after the strip’s originator Frederick Opper was lured away to William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. Though capable of picturesque urban scenes (like those that his friends Shinn and Glackens specialized in), Luks excelled as a broad comic artist, drawing single and multi-panel cartoons for newspapers and magazines, and working as a political cartoonist for the magazine Verdict. In the 1920s, Luks drew comic sketches for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. 

As a painter, Luks found inspiration in New York City, often depicting the streets and denizens of the Lower East Side, subjects which gained him little favor with art critics and jurors steeped in the genteel tradition. He painted thickly, often laying his paint on the canvas with a palette knife. In 1907, the rejection of one of his canvasses from a juried exhibition at the National Academy of Design spurred the organization of a protest exhibition the following year at Macbeth Gallery. This watershed exhibition would become known as the exhibition of "The Eight" for the eight painters who collaborated to put it together. Known for his big personality and love of liquor, Luks was a vocal proponent of American painting in the early 20th century. 

 

Heather Campbell Coyle, Curator of American Art, Delaware Art Museum 

Illustrations by George Luks

Yellow KidPublic Domainhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/yellow-kid
Chair WarmerPublic Domainhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/chair-warmer
Ah, you’ve come at last, young manPublic domainhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/ah-youve-come-at-last-young-man
The Little Nippers Stuff the Ballot Boxes and Elect Themselves Joint Mayor of Greater New YorkPublic Domainhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/the-little-nippers-stuff-the-ballot-boxes-and-elect-themselves-joint-mayor
Two Men FightingPublic Domainhttps://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/two-men-fighting

Additional Resources

  • Delaware Art Museum

Bibliography

Gambone, Robert L. Life on the Press: The Popular Art and Illustrations of George Benjamin Luks. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 2009.

O'Toole, Judith H. George Luks: An American Artist. Wilkes-Barre, PA: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College, 1987. 

Zurier, Rebecca. Picturing the City: Urban Vision and the Ashcan School. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006.

Genres
  • Advertising
    • Corporate
    • Political and Public Service
    • Product
    • Self-Promotion
  • Books
    • Children’s Books
    • Cover Art
    • Interior Illustration
  • Cartooning
    • Advertising
    • Caricature
    • Political and Editorial
    • Sports
    • Spot
  • Comics
    • Comic Books
      • Manga
    • Comic Strips
  • Decorative & Applied Illustration
    • Info Graphics
    • Murals
    • Portraiture
  • Fantasy
    • Adventure
    • Fairy Tales and Fables
    • Mythology
  • Fashion
    • Advertising
    • Design
  • Graphic Novels
    • Fiction
    • Non-Fiction
    • Visual Memoir and Autobiography
  • Internet Illustration
    • Web Comics
    • Website Illustration
  • Magazine
    • Cover Art
    • Story Illustration
  • Moving Image
    • Animation
    • Concept Art
    • Storyboard
    • Video Game Design
  • Newspaper
  • Non-Commissioned Work
  • Poster
    • Event (Promotional)
    • Film
    • Political
    • Propaganda
    • Travel
  • Product Illustration
    • Album/CD
    • Calendars
    • DVD/VHS/Videogame
    • Greeting Cards
    • Packaging
    • Paper Dolls
    • Postage Stamps
  • Pulp Illustration
    • Pinup Art
    • Pulp Magazines
  • Science Fiction
    • Creatures
    • Outer Space
    • Technology
  • Technical
    • Anatomy
    • Archaeological
    • Architecture
    • Courtroom Drawings
    • Horticulture
    • Mechanical
    • Natural History
Global Perspectives
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia
RELATED ARTISTS
  • Louis Glackens Louis Glackens
  • William Glackens William Glackens
  • Edward Hopper Edward Hopper
  • Everett Shinn Everett Shinn
  • John French Sloan John French Sloan
  • Dan Smith Dan Smith
Related Time Periods
  • Late 19th Century Late 19th Century
  • The Decade 1900-1910 The Decade 1900-1910
  • The Decade 1910-1920 The Decade 1910-1920
  • The Decade 1920-1930 The Decade 1920-1930

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