LUKS, GEORGE (BENJAMIN)

born Aug. 13, 1867, Williamsport, Pa., U.S. died Oct. 29, 1933, New York City one of a group of U.S. painters popularly known as the Ashcan School because of their realistic treatment of urban scenes. Luks studied first at the Pennsylvania Academy of 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. During that period he met the teacher and painter Robert Henri and the newspaper illustrators John Sloan and William Glackens. Luks served in Cuba in 1896 as a correspondent artist for the Philadelphia Bulletin during the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. After returning to the United States, he worked as a cartoonist for the New York World. He also began to paint realistic pictures of New Yorkers; notable examples are The Spielers (1905; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Mass.), possibly his best-known work, and The Wrestlers (1905; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). In 1908, with Henri, Sloan, Glackens, and other painters, Luks formed a group called the Eight, whose exhibition in New York that year is considered a key event in the early history of modern painting in the United States.