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Alfred J. Tulk (1899-1988)
25 page color catalog
$25 plus $3 S&H

Alfred James Tulk was born in London, England in 1899. As a boy he illustrated school magazines and his uncle was a watercolorist. His mother took him to visit the National Gallery, Crystal Palace and Tate Gallery in London. In 1913, the Tulk family moved to Oberlin, Ohio. He studied art at Oberlin Art College and graduated from Yale University’s Fine Art program in 1923.

After Yale, Tulk studied at the National Academy of Design and the Arts Student League in New York and lived in Greenwich Village. He studied under Max Weber who taught other notable modernists of the period including Mark Rothko (1903-1970). Tulk began working as an assistant to muralist Ezra Winter (1886-1949) who was commissioned for a major mural in Rockefeller Center. Tulk also became an assistant to J. Monroe Hewlett. Hewlett was president of the Architectural League of New York and headed the Society of Mural Painters. He was elected to the National Academy of Design and was a vice president of the American Institute of Architects. Tulk received major mural commissions from 1925 onwards including a 1928 commission for the Apollo Theater, NY and a 1931 mural commission for the Empire State Building.

Alfred J. Tulk’s Cupid & Psyche, Yale University 1923

Alfred Tulk, New York, ca. 1920s

During his career Tulk completed over 300 murals and many other projects associated with the Rambusch Company in New York. Later in 1931, Tulk accepted an invitation to travel to Liberia in West Africa to help an old Yale friend, Dr. George Harley, build a medical mission and school. Dr. Harley had considerable knowledge of art history through a friendship with Dr. & Mrs. George Schwab and Ernest Hooten, head of Harvard’s anthropology department. Dr. Harley amassed over 1,000 African masks many of which were acquired by museums at Harvard, Yale and other institutions. Tulk was greatly influenced by African art, dance and music during this period and incorporates the rhythms and forms of African art into his works.

Tulk returned to the states in 1933 and settled with his family in North Stamford, Connecticut and returned to the Rambusch Company to work on several commissions for the 1939 World’s Fair. During WWII, Tulk saw his two sons fight overseas. Tulk’s efforts turned to painting portable battlefield altars including one that was used on the battleship Missouri during the formal treaty surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. After the war, Tulk built a studio attached to his North Stamford home, but this was destroyed by a fire in 1953. After a few years he rebuilt his studio and continued to exhibit his paintings.

Above: Photo of Liberian dance from the Alfred J. Tulk estate

Tulk was a fiercely independent artist who turned down chances to exhibit on New York's 57th Street and took on new challenges completing a Masters Degree at University of Guanajuato, Mexico at 64 years old. He sold his paintings directly to his patrons. His paintings were his own unique interpretation of music, dance and the female figure. Much like the great abstract Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Tulk found music as his inspiration for painting and attended Yale Composer’s Concerts to listen to new sounds and techniques. Tulk stated “music was always a source of ideas for me.” The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's recent acquisition of a Tulk painting is a testament to his artistic accomplishments.

Please email paulroyka@roykas.com for inquiries

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Please email paulroyka@roykas.com for inquiries