George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 - October 29, 1933), was an American portrait and genre painter. He was a member of The Eight, which later expanded to the Ashcan School, a group of painters so named because their depictions of urban realities were deemed vulgar by many critics. Luks, a great admirer of Franz Hals, made many paintings of working class subjects and scenes of the urban street. He also worked as an illustrator and cartoonist. Two of his best-known works are The Spielers and The Wrestlers. His death in 1933 resulted from injuries in a barroom fight. His students included Norman Raeben and John Alan Maxwell. In World War II the United States liberty ship SS George Luks was named in his honor.
|