B-1953
Date1953
Mediumoil on canvas
DimensionsFramed: 13 1/2 × 20 1/2 inches (34.3 × 52.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight H. Emanuelson.
Object number1995.3.3
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextFormally considered an Abstract Expressionist, James Brooks produced bright, dense works marked by their vibrating tension between spontaneous form and controlled gesture. Born in 1906 in St. Louis, MO, and raised in Dallas, TX, Brooks studied art at Southern Methodist University and the Dallas Art Institute before moving to New York City in 1926 to attend classes at the Art Students League. During the Great Depression, Brooks built his reputation as a talented and ambitious painter, employed by the Works Progress Administration for several important commissions.
After a stint as a combat artist during World War II, Brooks abandoned the representational style of American Scene Realism in favor of deconstructed and flattened figures inspired by Cubism. His work further delved into abstraction after joining his friend Jackson Pollock as part of the avant-garde group of artists known as the New York School. These artists freed themselves from the constraints of realism and instead focused on the inherent flatness of the canvas and the energetic action of painting. Art critic Harold Rosenberg wrote in his seminal essay “The American Action Painters,” (1952) that “What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event….The big moment came when it was decided to paint… just to PAINT.” Brooks’s expressive explorations led him to create his own method of pouring pigment directly onto an unprimed canvas. This staining technique produced dynamic works with expansive puddles of color that received critical praise and attention from the art world.
James Brooks is currently represented in many public collections, including the Smithsonian, the Brooklyn Museum, the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as Telfair Museums.
