Jack Tworkov

Jack Tworkov (1900 – 1982) was born in Biala, Poland and immigrated to the United States when he was thirteen. Tworkov studied at Columbia University as well as the National Academy of Design. During the Depression Era, Tworkov met Willem de Kooning, and together (along with a group of other abstract expressionists) founded the New York School. During his lifetime, Tworkov had taught at several institutions, including the American University, Black Mountain College, Queens College, Pratt Institute, University of Minnesota, and Yale where he became Chairman of the Art Department from 1963 – 1969.

Tworkov is considered one of the “action painters” of the Abstract Expressionists of the 1940's and 1950's (such as Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning). Major work from this period is characterized by the use of gestural brush strokes. Straight lines and geometric patterns, however, characterize his later work during the 1960's.

He died in 1982 in Provincetown, Massachusetts.