George Tooker (recipient of the National Medal of Arts award in 2007) painted in a genre that was not quite clear to some people. The best way to describe it is surreal realism. It isn’t melted clocks in a desert or floating eyeballs in a cloud. You can call it magic realism or whatever you want to; but there is one thing for certain, you will not fail to recognize it when you see it.
His painting, “The Subway” (1950), will be on exhibit at the Whitney Museum (through Feb 17th) at their “Real/Surreal” exhibition. I would like to attend the exhibit, but I’m afraid it is not in my travel plans. However, I will take a minute and discuss this famous painting. The completed painting is posted at the bottom of this page, but, first, I’ll talk a bit about it as if it were in different segments.
On the left side of the painting are three men that seem to be in a telephone booth. However the one nearer the observer seems to be peering out to see if the observer (you)
are watching him. It almost seems that he is paranoid. Tooker once explained about his work that he was painting reality impressed on the mind so hard that it returns as a dream. However, he clarified that he was not painting dreams, as such, and they did not portray fantasy (interpreted, not a direct quote).
There is no doubt that the painting depicts a scene in a subway. At first glance, everything seems to be realistic. In a sense, It’s almost too realistic. It tends to give one a slightly unsettling feeling. Note, the three men are in the exact same position with the same physique, appearing to be a repetition of themselves wearing a different color coat. The walkway continues past them to an almost infinite somewhere, as does all the walkways and stairs. All directions tend to a regression.
The figures in the painting are regular people wearing everyday clothes. They seem to be coming from or going to work, but look at the expressions on their faces. Look at the haunting eyes on the woman. There is definitely something serious on her mind. The men behind her could easily be the walking dead, coming off as somewhat creepy. They appear to be stuck in space or in a trance. All of their expressions are disquieting.
Tooker painted with egg tempera which also gives the painting a smooth and clean surface. I’ve never painted with egg tempera but always admired the artists that do and have. Depending on the talent of the artist, the medium has the ability to give a painting an overall smooth, realistic, crispness; which Tooker managed to do with this painting.
This painting is one of the great ones. Everything from the planning to the execution. It is filled with directional angles and lines that keep the observer enjoying the trip around the painting. The color scheme helps keep you bouncing around. You go down several directions and find yourself fascinated. And, yes, it is somewhat disquieting and causes gently unsettling emotions, but this should have been exactly what George Tooker saw with his minds eye before he started the first stage of the painting.
