Symposium: New Perspectives on George Tooker
March 20-21, 2009
Join the curators of the George Tooker retrospective and the authors of the catalogue essays that accompany it for a two-day symposium that explores the art and life of one of the most mysterious and prescient figural painters in postwar America. The event will also bring together eight prominent scholars from the world of American Art to engage in a unique discussion on Tooker's legacy. Featuring: Susan J. Baker, Luciano Cheles, Mark Cole, Robert Cozzolino, Thomas Garver, Katherine Hauser, Diana Linden, Angela Miller, Kymberly Pinder, Marshall Price, Ellen Wiley Todd, and Melissa Wolfe.
Pre-registration deadline extended until February 15th, 2009:
$40 members, $50 non-members, $25 students with ID
Registration after February 15th, 2009:
$50 members, $60 non-members, $30 students with ID
For tickets, please contact 215-972-0522 or rsvp@pafa.org.
Schedule of Events
Friday, March 20
9:30 AM Registration, check-in, coffee
10:00 Welcome and Introduction by Robert Cozzolino, Curator of Modern Art,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
10:30 “Tooker’s Women.” Ellen Wiley Todd, George Mason University
11:00 “George Tooker and his Circle: A Love Affair with Piero.” Luciano Cheles, Professor
of Italian Art, University of Poitiers (France)
11:30 Questions and discussion led by Robert Cozzolino
Noon break for lunch
1:30 “No Direction Home: George Tooker, Deviance, and Visibility in Twentieth-Century
America.” Katherine Hauser, Skidmore College
2:00 “In from the roar of city streets: Urban Discord in the Work of George Tooker.”
Susan J. Baker, University of Houston-Downtown
2:30 Questions and discussion led by Robert Cozzolino
3:00 Tour of George Tooker: A Retrospective exhibition led by Robert Cozzolino
Saturday, March 21
9:45 Check-in, coffee
10:00 Welcome and Introduction by Robert Cozzolino, Curator of Modern Art,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
10:30 "Living on the Edge: George Tooker’s Cornice." Mark Cole, Cleveland Museum of
Art
11:00 "A Positive Terror of Personality: Tradition and the Flight from Self.” Angela
Miller, Washington University and Holly Hunt, Metropolitan State College of
Denver
11:30 Questions and discussion led by Marshall Price, National Academy of Design
Museum and School
Noon break for lunch
1:30 “What’s Going On? The Civil Rights Work of George Tooker & William
Christopher.” Diana Linden, Independent Scholar
2:00 “Unveiling Racial Tropes in Tooker’s Art and its Criticism.” Kymberly N. Pinder,
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2:30 Questions and discussion led by Marshall Price, National Academy of Design
Museum and School
3:00 Panel Discussion: “Revealed and Concealed: Interviewing George Tooker.”
Thomas H. Garver, Independent scholar
Jonathan Weinberg, Artist
M. Melissa Wolfe, Associate Curator of American Art, Columbus Museum of Art
Moderated by Robert Cozzolino
3:45 Closing remarks, David R. Brigham, Edna S. Tuttleman Museum Director,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts