George Tooker (1920-2011) was a painter associated with Magical Realism, though he did not find this label applicable to his interests or work. Many of Tooker’s works dealt with themes of isolation and despondency in contemporary urban life, and disillusionment with bureaucratic political systems. Tooker studied under Socialist Realist painters Reginald Marsh and Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League in New York, but was equally influenced by Renaissance painters Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca. As a result of this training and inspiration, Tooker began first to experiment with and then fully adopt as his primary medium egg tempera painting. During and after the 1980s, his subjects moved towards the spiritual and religious, with symbols and images drawn from Biblical and mythological sources.
“Mirror” is George Tooker’s fourth print and his first attempt at a color lithograph and, at that point, the largest print he had done. The subject was based on an egg tempra he had done in 1962, “Mirror I”, the first of a series of 4 temperas done over a period of years. This print was printed with a black stone over a solid ivory stone. Printer Richard Newlin carried the stone back and forth between the artist’s studio and San Francisco by plane.
