Romaine Brooks (born Beatrice Romaine Goddard; May 1, 1874 – December 7, 1970) was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized in portraiture and used a subdued tonal palette keyed to the color gray. Brooks ignored contemporary artistic trends such as Cubism and Fauvism, drawing on her own original aesthetic inspired by the works of Charles Conder, Walter Sickert, and James McNeill Whistler. Her subjects ranged from anonymous models to titled aristocrats. She is best known for her images of women in androgynous or masculine dress, including her self-portrait of 1923, which is her most widely reproduced work.[1]
Although her family was wealthy,[2] Brooks had an unhappy childhood after her alcoholic father abandoned the family; her mother was emotionally abusive and her brother mentally ill. By her own account, her childhood cast a shadow over her whole life. She spent several years in Italy and France as a poor art student, then inherited a fortune upon her mother's death in 1902. Wealth gave her the freedom to choose her own subjects. She often painted people close to her, such as the Italian writer and politician Gabriele D'Annunzio, the Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, and her partner of more than 50 years, the writer Natalie Barney.
Although she lived until 1970, it is erroneously believed that she painted very little after 1925 despite evidence to the contrary.[3] She made a series of drawings during the 1930s, using an "unpremeditated" techniques predating automatic drawing. She spent time in New York City in the mid 1930s, completing portraits of Carl Van Vechten and Muriel Draper. Many of her works are unaccounted for, but photographic reproductions attest to her ongoing artwork. It is thought to have culminated in her 1961 portrait of Duke Uberto Strozzi.[3]
^Latimer, Women Together, 51.
^Meagher M. "Romaine Brooks: A Life". JSTOR 26430731. Retrieved July 6, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ abLanger, Cassandra (2015). Romaine Brooks: A Life. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin. p. 68. ISBN 978-0299298609.
RomaineBrooks (born Beatrice Romaine Goddard; May 1, 1874 – December 7, 1970) was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized...
and longer relationships with writer Élisabeth de Gramont and painter RomaineBrooks. Barney hosted a salon at her home in Paris for more than 60 years,...
Oscar Wilde in 1895, Brooks moved to the island of Capri. He formed a friendship with the American heiress and painter RomaineBrooks when she visited in...
with the painter RomaineBrooks, who created several striking portraits, including one of the dancer as a nude model for Venus. Brooks' portraits were...
novel Extraordinary Women, inspired by the affairs of American painter RomaineBrooks (in the novel, under the pseudonym of Olimpia Leigh). One of the island's...
described, including her own friends, disagreed with her portrayal of it; RomaineBrooks called her "a digger-up of worms with the pretension of a distinguished...
promote. She became close friends with writer Natalie Barney and artist RomaineBrooks and was a regular at Barney's salon. She met Djuna Barnes during this...
as various as Giovanni Boldini, Paolo Troubetzkoy, Adolph de Meyer, RomaineBrooks (with whom she had an affair), Kees van Dongen, and Man Ray; many of...
(2004) is another dual biography, this time of the American couple RomaineBrooks and Natalie Barney, part of the artistic expat community in Paris between...
Franchetti left Capri and was linked with the prominent American artist RomaineBrooks. Borgatti had an affair with Faith Compton Mackenzie, whose husband...
from 1907 to 1910, during which time he had an affair with the artist RomaineBrooks, who was also bisexual. The main love of her life, Natalie Clifford...
lesbian and bisexual artists and writers, including Julie d'Aubigny, RomaineBrooks, Renee Vivien, Colette, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, and Radclyffe...
sense of innocence with foreboding or darkness. Her works, compared to RomaineBrooks, have been auctioned at Christie's and Sotheby's. Jenny Scobel was born...
Artworks by African Americans from the Collection (2016) The Art of RomaineBrooks (2016) Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget (2014) Modern American Realism:...
version of Lesbos in her salon. Her contemporaries included artist RomaineBrooks, who painted others in her circle; writers Colette, Djuna Barnes, social...
drew LGBT and heterosexual artists and writers of the era, including RomaineBrooks, Renée Vivien, Colette, Djuna Barnes, André Gide, Pierre Louÿs, Truman...
come out here and fight me." Polignac had a relationship with painter RomaineBrooks, which had begun in 1905, and which effectively ended her affair with...
fencing champion of England. A lesbian, she was known as 'Brother' by RomaineBrooks, and she crossed the alps on a motorbike with her god-daughter Fabienne...
bought it from Miles's executors. No.48: Mick Jagger, singer No.50: RomaineBrooks, artist Anna Lea Merritt, American artist No.52: John Collier, artist...
as Fernand Léger Tamara Vučković as Louise Dany Elsa Zylberstein as RomaineBrooks Anne Lambton as Marie Louise Schelbert David Herlihy as Aristotle Onassis...
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