Study for “House of the Sun”

Jack Tworkov was raised in a small Polish village on the Russian border, but he emigrated to America in 1913 on a sponsorship. Despite the isolation of language barriers and lost cultural identity, young Tworkov found joy in the mechanical drawing and sketch classes after school. Later encounters with French avant-garde artists at the Brooklyn Museum moved him to pursue instruction from the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design in New York.

In the 1940s, Tworkov taught art, worked for the Federal Art Project, and regularly exhibited as a founding member of the New York School along with Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. At the invitation of Josef Albers, Tworkov taught a summer session in 1952 at Black Mountain College. By this time, Tworkov had embraced bold color and application. Following his time there, his popularity skyrocketed. He continued to teach at major academic institutions and exhibit around the country.