George Luks

George Luks was an American realistic artist and illustrator, whose work was representative of the Ashcan School of American art. In his youth he performed in vaudeville with his brother. He studied first at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and later in Germany, London, and Paris. Returning to the United States in 1894, he became an illustrator for the “Philadelphia Press”.

Luks went to Cuba in 1895 as a correspondent artist for the “Philadelphia Bulletin” during the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. After returning to the United States, he settled in New York and worked as a cartoonist, drawing the popular cartoon Hogan’s Alley for the “New York World”. From 1902-03 Luks lived in Paris, where he not only continued his art studies but also became increasingly preoccupied with the depiction of modern city life. When he returned to New York City, he settled in Greenwich Village, where he began to paint realistic pictures of New Yorkers. He developed into a chronicler of the poor, having been acquainted with poverty in his youth, and painted mainly workers and subcultural city scenes.

In 1908, with seven other painters, Luks formed a group called The Eight, whose exhibition in New York that year marked a key event in the history of modern painting in the United States. After this event, Luks received the support of art dealers and patrons. He and the other members of The Eight were eventually absorbed into a larger group of artists known as the Ashcan school, which continued the exploration of modern, urban realities.

A heavy drinker, Luks considered himself as a rebel against the establishment, but nevertheless taught at the Art Students League in the 1920s and then at his own art school. In 1933, he was found dead in the street after getting heavily drunk in his local bar and getting into a fight. With his painting The Wrestlers (oil on canvas, 122.5 x 168.3 cm), which was painted as early as 1905, he wanted to silence his critics, who accused him of not being able to depict human anatomy well. The painting is now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.