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George Tooker , (Aug 5, 1920–March 27, 2011)

Study for "Subway"

1949
24 in. x 39 3/8 in. (60.96 cm x 100.01 cm)

Medium and Support: Graphite on paper

Credit Line: Gift of the artist (PA 1938) in memory of his parents, George Clair and Angela Montejo Roura Tooker

Accession Number: 1996.80.130

Commentary

Tooker was part of an artistic circle that included George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, Jared French, Christopher Isherwood, W.H. Auden, and Lincoln Kirstein. Best known as a painter who worked in the painstaking medium of egg tempera, he was a Phillips Academy alumnus from the class of 1936. In 1996, he donated his lifetime production of preparatory drawings to the Addison. Tooker never painted the male nude and said his work was “only implicitly homosexual, not outwardly so.” Very often, as in the drawing for Subway, which would become his best known painting, figures are compositionally placed in boxes or in other spaces that visually isolate them from each other, even though they are in crowds. Tooker said this suggests the vice of prejudice, which has the effect of separating people from each other. His use of closet-like spaces also arose from his abhorrence of conformity, especially during the Red Scare of the 1950s, a period when Communist spying and homosexuality were often linked in the public’s mind.

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

George Tooker: A Retrospective Columbus Museum of Art , 10/2/2008 - 9/6/2009
Secrets, Loss, Memory, and Courage: Works by Gay Male Artists Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/27/2013 - 7/31/2013
Toward Resolution: Artists’ Studies from the Collection [Phillips Academy Art 300] Addison Gallery of American Art , 5/30/2014 - 7/31/2014

Related Parent(s) Click a record to view

Study Archive
1996.80.1-227

Related Siblings(s) Click a record to view

Study for "Acrobats"
1996.80.1

Image of Study for "Children and Spastics"

Study for "Children and Spastics"
1996.80.10

Study for "Mother And Child"
1996.80.100

Study for "Night I"
1996.80.101

Study for "Orant (Applause)"
1996.80.102

Study for "Orant (Applause)"
1996.80.103

Study for "Orant (Applause)"
1996.80.104

Study for "Orant (Applause)"
1996.80.105

Study for "Orant (Applause)"
1996.80.106

Study for "Pot Of Aloes"
1996.80.107

Study for "Red Carpet"
1996.80.108

Study for "Repose" (intaglio)
1996.80.109

Study for "Claveles"
1996.80.11

Study for "Repose" (intaglio)
1996.80.110

Image of Study for "Self-Portrait I" (lithograph)

Study for "Self-Portrait I" (lithograph)
1996.80.111

Study for "Sevillanas"
1996.80.112

Study for "Sibyl"
1996.80.113

Study for "Singer"
1996.80.114

Study for "Sleepers I"
1996.80.115

Study for "Sleepers I"
1996.80.116

Study for "Sleepers I"
1996.80.117

Study for "Sleepers I"
1996.80.118

Study for "Sleepers I"
1996.80.119

Study for "Coney Island"
1996.80.12

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.120

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.121

Study for "Sleepers III"
1996.80.122

Study for "Sleepers III"
1996.80.123

Study for "Standing Figures"
1996.80.124

Study for "Standing Figures"
1996.80.125

Study for "Standing Fgures"
1996.80.126

Study for "Standing Figures"
1996.80.127

Image of Study for "Still Life With Oranges"

Study for "Still Life With Oranges"
1996.80.128

Study for "Still Life With Oranges"
1996.80.129

Study for "Cornice"
1996.80.13

Study for "Table I"
1996.80.131

Study for "Table II"
1996.80.132

Study for "Teller"
1996.80.133

Study for "Terminal"
1996.80.134

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.135

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.136

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.137

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.138

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.139

Study for "Corporate Decision"
1996.80.14

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.140

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.141

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.142

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.143

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.144

Study for "Three Women"
1996.80.145

Study for "Toilette"
1996.80.146

Study for "Toilette"
1996.80.147

Study for "Toilette"
1996.80.148

Study for "Toilette"
1996.80.149

Study for "Corporate Decision"
1996.80.15

Study for "Tree"
1996.80.150

Image of Study for "Two Women With Laundry"

Study for "Two Women With Laundry"
1996.80.151

Image of Study for "Un Ballo in Maschero" (lithograph)

Study for "Un Ballo in Maschero" (lithograph)
1996.80.152

Study for "Un Ballo in Maschero" (lithograph)
1996.80.153

Study for "The Couple"
1996.80.154

Study for "The Couple"
1996.80.155

Study for Unknown
1996.80.156

Study for Unknown
1996.80.157

Study for Untitled
1996.80.158

Study for "Voice I"
1996.80.159

Study for "Corporate Decision"
1996.80.16

Study for "Voice II"
1996.80.160

Study for "Waiting Room"
1996.80.161

Study for "Waiting Room II"
1996.80.162

Study for "Waiting Room II"
1996.80.163

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.164

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.165

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.166

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.167

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.168

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.169

Study for "Dance"
1996.80.17

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.170

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.171

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.172

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.173

Study for "Ward"
1996.80.174

Study for "Ward II"
1996.80.175

Study for "Watchers"
1996.80.176

Study for "White Curtain"
1996.80.177

Study for "White Curtain II"
1996.80.178

Study for "White Wall"
1996.80.179

Study for "Dancers"
1996.80.18

Study for "White Wall"
1996.80.180

Study for "Window I"
1996.80.181

Studies for Window I
1996.80.182

Study for "Window I"
1996.80.183

Study for "Window I"
1996.80.184

Study for "Window III"
1996.80.185

Study for "Window III"
1996.80.186

Study for "Window III"
1996.80.187

Study for "Window III"
1996.80.188

Study for "Window III"
1996.80.189

Study for "Divers"
1996.80.19

Study for "Window III"
1996.80.190

Image of Study for "Window VII (Desdemona)"

Study for "Window VII (Desdemona)"
1996.80.191

Study for "Window X"
1996.80.192

Study for "Woman With Rose"
1996.80.193

Study for "Woman With Rose"
1996.80.194

Study for "Women At The Wall"
1996.80.195

Study for "Women At The Wall"
1996.80.196

Study for "Corporate Decision"
1996.80.198

Study for "Government Bureau"
1996.80.199

Image of Study for "The Artist's Daughter"

Study for "The Artist's Daughter"
1996.80.2

Study for "The Dream"
1996.80.20

Study for "Government Bureau"
1996.80.200

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.201

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.202

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.203

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.204

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.205

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.206

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.207

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.208

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.209

Study for "The Dream"
1996.80.21

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.210

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.211

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.212

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.213

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.214

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.215

Study for "Mirror II"
1996.80.216

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.217

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.218

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.219

Study for "Dreamers"
1996.80.22

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.220

Study for "Sleepers II"
1996.80.221

Study for "Teller"
1996.80.222

Study for "Voice I"
1996.80.223

Study for "Door"
1996.80.224

Study for "Voice I"
1996.80.225

Study for "Voice I"
1996.80.226

Study for "Window I"
1996.80.227

Study for "Dreamers"
1996.80.23

Study for "El Botijo"
1996.80.24

Image of Study for "Embrace I" and "Lovers" (lithograph)

Study for "Embrace I" and "Lovers" (lithograph)
1996.80.25

Study for "Embrace II"
1996.80.26

Study for "Embrace II"
1996.80.27

Image of Study for "Embrace II" (lithograph)

Study for "Embrace II" (lithograph)
1996.80.28

Study for "Embrace II" (lithograph)
1996.80.29

Study for "Audience"
1996.80.3

Image of Study for "Embrace ll" (lithograph)

Study for "Embrace ll" (lithograph)
1996.80.30

Study for "Embrace ll" (lithograph)
1996.80.31

Study for "Embrace ll" (lithograph)
1996.80.32

Study for "Embrace III"
1996.80.33

Study for "Embrace III"
1996.80.34

Study for "Embrace of Peace l"
1996.80.35

Study for "Entertainers"
1996.80.36

Study for "Festa"
1996.80.37

Study for "Fig Tree"
1996.80.38

Study for "Fig Tree"
1996.80.39

Image of Study for "Bathers (Bath Houses)"

Study for "Bathers (Bath Houses)"
1996.80.4

Study for "Fountain"
1996.80.40

Study for "Garden Party"
1996.80.41

Study for "Garden Wall"
1996.80.42

Study for "Girl In The Window"
1996.80.43

Study for "Girl In The Window"
1996.80.44

Study for "Girl Praying"
1996.80.45

Study for "Girl With Basket"
1996.80.46

Study for "Government Bureau"
1996.80.47

Study for "Guitar"
1996.80.48

Study for "Guitar"
1996.80.49

Study for "Bird Watchers"
1996.80.5

Study for "Guitar"
1996.80.50

Study for "Guitar"
1996.80.51

Study for "Gypsy"
1996.80.52

Study for "Gypsies"
1996.80.53

Study for "Highway"
1996.80.54

Study for "Highway"
1996.80.55

Study for "Hill"
1996.80.56

Study for "Hill"
1996.80.57

Study for "Hill"
1996.80.58

Study for "Hill"
1996.80.59

Study for "Builders"
1996.80.6

Study for "How Do You Do?"
1996.80.60

Study for "How Do You Do?"
1996.80.61

Image of Study for "In The Summer House"

Study for "In The Summer House"
1996.80.62

Study for "The Island"
1996.80.63

Study for "Jukebox"
1996.80.64

Image of Study for "Landscape With Figures"

Study for "Landscape With Figures"
1996.80.65

Study for "Landscape With Figures"
1996.80.66

Study for "Landscape With Figures"
1996.80.67

Image of Study for "Landscape With Figures II"

Study for "Landscape With Figures II"
1996.80.68

Study for "Landscape With Figures II"
1996.80.69

Study for "Cabinet"
1996.80.7

Image of Study for "Landscape With Figures III"

Study for "Landscape With Figures III"
1996.80.70

Study for "Landscape With Figures III"
1996.80.71

Study for "Lantern"
1996.80.72

Study for "Lanterns"
1996.80.73

Study for "Laundress"
1996.80.74

Study for "Laundresses"
1996.80.75

Study for "Laundresses"
1996.80.76

Study for "Laurel"
1996.80.77

Study for "The Lesson"
1996.80.78

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.79

Study for "A Game of Chess"
1996.80.8

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.80

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.81

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.82

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.83

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.84

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.85

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.86

Study for "Lovers I"
1996.80.87

Study for "Lovers II"
1996.80.88

Study for "Lunch"
1996.80.89

Study for "Children and Spastics"
1996.80.9

Study for "Lunch"
1996.80.90

Study for "Magdalene"
1996.80.91

Study for "Market"
1996.80.92

Image of Study for "Men And Women Fighting"

Study for "Men And Women Fighting"
1996.80.93

Study for "Men And Women Fighting"
1996.80.94

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.95

Study for "Mirror I"
1996.80.96

Study for "Mirror II"
1996.80.97

Study for "Mirror IV"
1996.80.98

Study for "Mother And Child"
1996.80.99

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This object is a member of the following portfolios:

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