The son of a New York stockbroker, Edward Rook's early interest in art was no doubt stimulated by his father's substantial collection of contemporary American and European paintings. Rook enrolled at the Art Student's League in 1889, studying drawing from the Antique, probably with John H. Twachtman. Although he remained at the League until 1891, Rook first traveled to Le Faout, Brittany in c. 1890.
France was Rook's principle home for the next ten years. From 1893 to 1897, he studied at the Academie Julian, with Jean Joseph, Benjamin Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens. He was also enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Jean Leon Gerome's atelier in October of 1876. In 1899, the year after his return, Rook resided in both New York and Newport. He participated in several exhibitions at this time, exhibiting tonal landscapes. Although the artist was again in France in 1900, he left permanently before the end of that winter.
In 1901 Rook married Edith Sone, a childhood friend. During the summer, the couple honeymooned in the Canadian Rockies, while also visiting the California coast. In October 1901, they went to Mexico, remaining for almost one year.
Rook first visited Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1903. Although he moved to the artists' colony permanently by 1905, he maintained a New York address until 1907. His landscapes after this period become more vibrantly colored, focusing on the seasons, which by 1917 (ABG: word???) transformed into an abstraction almost expressionist in feeling.
Although he sold few paintings during his career, Rook and his wife both came from prosperous families. In 1924, he moved to a home designed to focus on his collections of automobiles. He had completely abandoned painting in favor of this hobby by the later years of the 1920s. Rook died after complications resulting from a hip fracture.
