Accession Number
1972/2.36

Title
River Junkmen

Artist(s)
George Luks

Object Creation Date
1867-1933

Medium & Support
plumbago on tracing paper, mounted on heavier paper

Dimensions
11 1/4 x 9 1/4 in. (28.58 x 23.34 cm);18 1/16 x 22 1/16 in. (45.88 x 56.04 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase made possible by the Friends of the Museum of Art

Label copy
Luks was one of a group of artists known as The Eight, who worked in a realist style under the inspiration of Robert Henri (1865–1929). Their focus was the everyday life of New York City. Like Henri, Luks first worked as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia before moving to New York. In 1896 Luks became a cartoonist for the "New York World," and he began to paint the next year. In 1913, Luks participated in the Armory Show, a landmark exhibition of avant-garde art that featured work by both European and American artists. He taught at the Art Students League from 1920 to 1924 before founding his own school.
Luks portrayed workers and the poor with sympathy. This quick sketch was likely drawn from life, and its emphatic strokes and zigzags aptly convey the bustle of commercial activity at river’s edge.
(A. Dixon, 20th Century Gallery installation, June 1999)

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
Figures
boat
docks
man
modern and contemporary art
ships
smoke
water
women