Biografie von James BROOKS (1906-1992)

Birth place: St Louis, MO

Addresses: East Hampton, NY

Profession: Painter

Studied: Southern Methodist Univ., 1923-25; Dallas Art Inst., 1925-26, with Martha Simkins; ASL, 1927, with Kimon Nicolaides & Boardman Robinson; priv. study with Wallace Harrison, 1945.

Exhibited: WMAA annuals & biennials, 1933-72; PAFA, 1935, 1954, 1962, 1964, 1966; AIC, 1947, 1957 (prize); CI, 1956 (prize); SFMA, 1963; Dunn Int., Tate Gallery, London, 1964; Philadelphia A. All., PA, 1966 (solo); The New American Painting and Sculpture, MoMA, 1969; 48 Sts. Competition; Dallas MFA, 1937, 1972; WMAA, 1963, retrospective; Martha Jackson Gallery, NYC. Awards: Norman Wait Harris Silver Medal & Prize, 1961; Ford Foundation Purchase Award, 1962; F., Guggenheim Found., 1967-68.

Member: NIAL, 1973; Century Assn.; Artists Union; Mural Painters; Woodstock Artists Assoc.

Work: Guggenheim Mus.; MoMA; MMA; BM; AIC; CI; BMFA; PAFA; Dallas Mus. FA; Detroit IA; Albright -Knox Gal.; Brandeis Univ.; Tate Gallery, London, England. WPA murals, USPO, Little Falls, NJ

Comments: A leading member of the New York school of Abstract Expressionism. As a WPA artist, he painted the 12 feet by 235 foot mural, "Flight" (destroyed) at LaGuardia Airport, NY, in 1942. Artist-correspondent in WWII. Teaching: instr. drawing, Columbia Univ., 1946-48; instr. lettering, Pratt Inst. Art School, 1948-59; vis. critic, Yale Univ., 1955-60; artist-in-residence, Am. Acad., Rome, 1963; vis. artist, New College, Sarasota, FL, 1965-67; Miami Beach Art Center, FL, 1966; prof. art, Queens College, 1966-67, 1968-69.

Sources: WW73; WW40; Sam Hunter, James Brooks (Whitney Mus. Art, 1963); Sam Hunter, ed., New Art around the World (Abrams, 1966); Baigell, Dictionary; addit. info. courtesy Woodstock Artists Assoc.