06/01/2026
Showing PRIDE for our SAMA Permanent Collection artists. George Clair Tooker was a painter and printmaker, best known for his paintings in egg tempura. Initially a leading artist in the Magic Realism movement, he regarded himself as a reporter of society rather than an interpreter. His exploration of geometric design and symmetry were important to his work and contributed to a slow pace that allowed him to produce only two paintings a year. His formal studies included a stint as both student and teacher at the Art Students League. It was here that he befriended the painter Paul Cadmus, who encouraged him to use the classical medium of egg tempera. He later graduated from Harvard University and then returned to Brooklyn in the 1940s and 50s, moving with his partner William Christopher to a self-designed and built house where he lived and painted until his death.
George Clair Tooker, Un Ballo in Maschera (Masquerade Ball), 1983.
