George Luks: Realities

American artist George Luks (1867-1933) was associated with the New York Realists, also known as the Ashcan School. 

Known for its gritty urban subject matter, dark palette, and gestural brushwork, the Ashcan School was a loosely knit group of artists based in New York City who were inspired by the painter Robert Henri. The group believed in the worthiness of immigrant and working-class life as artistic subject matter and in an art that depicted the real rather than an elitist ideal, so offered featured in the work of the American Impressionists.

Born in a coal-mining region of north-central Pennsylvania, Luks studied first at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and later in Germany, London, and Paris. Returning to the United States in 1894, he became an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press and, at that time, met Robert Henri.

In 1908, with Henri, John Sloan, William Glackens, and four other painters, Luks formed a group called The Eight, whose exhibition in New York that year marked a key event in the history of modern painting in the United States. 

After this event, Luks received the support of art dealers and patrons. He and the other members of The Eight were eventually absorbed into the larger Ashcan school, which continued the exploration of modern, urban realities.