George Tooker

George Clair Tooker, Jr. (August 5, 1920 – March 27, 2011) was an American symbolic painter. His works are united with Magic realism, Social realism, Photorealism and Surrealism. His subjects are depicted naturally as in a photograph, but the images use flat tones, an ambiguous perspective, and dreadful juxtapositions to suggest an imagined or dreamed reality. He did not allow with the membership of his achievement with Magic reality or Surrealism, as he said, "I am after painting reality impressed on the mind so hard that it returns as a dream, but I am not after painting dreams as such, or fantasy." In 1968, he was elected to the National Academy of Design and was a believer of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Tooker was one of nine recipients of the National Medal of Arts in 2007.