George Picken

"Blackwell's Island (Roosevelt Island, New York City), " George Picken, WPA Scene

1928

A native New Yorker, George Picken was born in 1898. His father, an artist and photographer, emigrated from Scotland; his mother came from Wales. They joined other European immigrants settling in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. Picken enlisted in the army during World War I and saw action at Verdun. After the war, he stayed in France and like many Americans returning from the vibrant Paris art scene, was inspired by the radical movement known as Impressionism. Upon his return Picken decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an artist. George began his studies in 1919 at the Art Students League during Robert Henri, Max Weber, and John Sloan’s tenure. There he took classes in studio art, illustration, and etching through 1923 studying extensively with George Bridgman. Picken’s recognition came early with showings of his work while he was a student. His drawings were published in the New Masses, a significant leftwing publication. The New York Public Library honored him with one-man shows in 1924 and 1928 and his work was included in group exhibitions at the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the Whitney Studio Club, Montross Gallery, and the Art Students League. Later he moved to Yorkville in Manhattan between 82nd street and East End Avenue where they began their family. Picken’s grandson Niles Jaeger recalled that, “Grandpa’s home and studio were in a five-story walk-up apartment, heated only by a coal stove. But there were wonderful views of the East River and the Queensborough Bridge and he painted them repeatedly over the next three decades.” Picken felt the financial panic and economic depression that engulfed most of the world in 1931. During the run of the [WPA] over ten thousand artists were employed including Picken’s friends Stuart Davis and Reginald Marsh. Arshile Gorky, Isabel Bishop, Grant Wood, Ben Shahn, Adolph Gottlieb, David Smith, Willem deKooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, and Paul Cadmus also found work. Along with Rockwell Kent, John Steuart Curry, and Thomas Hart Benton, Picken was commissioned to do public murals. Picken’s work can be found in the Post Offices of Hudson Falls and Fort Edward, New York and Chardon, Ohio. In 1933 George Picken was also offered a position as a teacher at the Art Students League. He taught printmaking there through 1942 as well as teaching painting, printmaking, and lithography at Cooper Union and holding a position at Columbia University. During this time Picken achieved notoriety for his paintings of industrial and city scenes. Stuart Davis remarked that his friend’s dark urban scenes were like “dungeons.” Marie Harriman, wife of railroad baron Averill Harriman, was Picken’s first patron giving him one-person shows at her gallery. In the 1940s with the guidance of Edward Hopper, Picken joined the prestigious Rehn Galleries on Madison Avenue. Rehn Galleries also exhibited the work of Reginald Marsh and Charles Burchfield. Picken’s had regular one-person shows there until his death.