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BiographyLeen, 1974Born in St. Louis, MO (1906). Attended Southern Methodist University (1923-25). Moved to New York City (1926). Studied at the Art Students League with Kimon Nicolaides and Boardman Robinson (1927-30). Married to Mary MacDonald (1938-42). Served in the United States Army in the Middle East as an Art Correspondent, with headquarters in Cairo and traveled in North Africa, Palestine and Egypt (1942-45). Married the artist Charlotte Park (1947). Died in East Hampton, NY (1992). Museum exhibitions include James Brooks at the Dallas Museum of Art: A Celebration, Dallas, TX (2006); James Brooks Revisited, Hillwood Art Museum, Brookville, NY (2000); Rediscovering James Brooks: WPA Murals & Other Figural Works, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (1997); James Brooks: A Retrospective, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (1983); and James Brooks Retrospective, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1963), traveled to Rose Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Washington Gallery of Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C.; University of California Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA. Selected museum collections include Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
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WorksExhibitions
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James Brooks: Rendez-vous
Paintings 1972 - 1983: 2nd Floor June 8 - August 19, 2022Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present James Brooks: Rendez-vous Paintings 1972 - 1983, an exhibition of paintings by the exemplary Abstract Expressionist James Brooks. On view from June 8...Read more -
Brooks, Diebenkorn, Goldberg, Sterne, Tworkov: Works from the 1950s
Special Presentation: 3rd Floor November 16, 2019 - January 16, 2020Read more -
James Brooks
Painting I Prefer to Know, Works on Canvas from 1950-1958: 3rd Floor March 13 - May 27, 2019“The painting surface has always been the rendezvous of what the painter knows with the unknown, which appears on it for the first time.” -James Brooks, 1955 Van Doren Waxter...Read more -
James Brooks
Familiar World 1942 – 1982 May 3 - June 23, 2017I think my whole tendency has been away from a fast moving line either violent or lyrical into something that is slower and denser and more wandering and unknowing ––...Read more -
Go Figure
January 11 - February 18, 2017Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present Go Figure, a group exhibition that explores the intersection of select historical and contemporary artists through the vernacular of figurative painting. Spanning a...Read more -
Summer Group Exhibition: Part II
James Brooks, Richard Diebenkorn, Al Held, Manny Farber, Alan Shields July 28 - August 29, 2014Read more -
James Brooks
Paintings and Works on Paper 1945–1949 March 5 - April 25, 2014Van Doren Waxter is pleased to present James Brooks: Paintings and Works on Paper 1945 - 1949, a solo exhibition featuring paintings and works on paper by James Brooks (1906...Read more -
Unlikely Friends: James Brooks & Dan Flavin
January 5 - February 18, 2012Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is pleased to present Unlikely Friends: James Brooks & Dan Flavin, a two-person exhibition featuring works on paper and canvas by James Brooks and fluorescent light...Read more -
James Brooks
Geometry and Gesture: Selected Works from 1968 - 1979 October 29 - December 23, 2009Solo exhibition Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by the late abstract expressionist James Brooks (1906 -1992). This is the...Read more -
James Brooks
Black and White + Color February 21 - March 29, 2008Reception: February 21, 5 - 7 PM Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is pleased to present a focused thematic exhibition of paintings by the late American abstract expressionist James Brooks (1906...Read more -
Pre-Post
American Abstraction 1940s - 60s October 11 - November 11, 2006Baziotes • Bluhm • Brooks • DeFeo • De Kooning • Diebenkorn • Francis Frankenthaler • Gorky • Guston • Held • Hofmann • Kamrowski • Krasner Mitchell • Motherwell...Read more -
James Brooks
A Survey of Small Paintings November 16 - December 23, 2005Solo exhibition Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of small paintings by the late American abstract expressionist James Brooks (1906 – 1992). This is the first...Read more -
Tête à Tête
June 8 - July 8, 2005Group exhibition Jennifer Bartlett ~ Louise Belcourt ~ James Brooks ~ Tim Davis ~ Richard Diebenkorn Anthony Caro ~ Sharon Ellis ~ Paul Feeley ~ Mark Grotjahn ~ Wade Guyton...Read more -
Black & White
July 28 - September 18, 2004Group exhibition James Brooks Jessica Craig-Martin Richard Diebenkorn Benjamin Edwards Paul Graham Katy Grannan Malerie Marder Cameron Martin Marilyn Minter Dorothea Rockburne Sebastián Romo Aïda Ruilova Alexis Smith Greenberg Van...Read more -
James Brooks
Selected Paintings 1960 - 85 October 8 - November 15, 2003Artemis · Greenberg Van Doren · Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by the late American abstract expressionist James Brooks (1906 – 1992). This is the first...Read more
NewsPublications-
James Brooks
Paintings and Works on Paper 1945 – 1949 March 2014Online Book, Softcover, 32 pagesRead more -
James Brooks
Familiar World 1942 – 1982 2017Book, Softcover; 32 pagesRead more
ISBN: 978-0-9908058-6-1 -
James Brooks
Black and White + Color 2008Book, Softcover, 23 pagesRead more
ISBN: 0-9801259-0-1 -
James Brooks
A Survey of Small Paintings 2005Book, Softcover, 36 pagesRead more
ISBN: 0-9717484-9-7 -
James Brooks
Selected Works 1960 – 1985 Essay by Sarah K. Rich, 2003Book, Softcover; 32 pagesRead more
ISBN: 0-917484-4-6 -
James Brooks & Dan Flavin
Unlikely Friends 2012Book, Softcover, 19 pagesRead more
ISBN: 0-9717484-9-7
Art fairs-
Independent 20th Century
September 7 - October 10, 2023Read more -
Dallas Art Fair
April 21 - 24, 2022Caetano de Almeida James Brooks Marsha Cottrell Richard Diebenkorn Jeronimo Elespe Jessie Henson Hans Hofmann Volker Hüller Robert Motherwell Joshua Nathanson Evan Nesbit Harvey Quaytman...Read more
Press-
James Brooks: Rendez-vous Paintings 1972–1983
By Robert Morgan, The Brooklyn Rail, July 1, 2022 -
James Brooks at Van Doren Waxter, New York
ArtInfo, May 11, 2017 -
In Praise of Unfashionable Art, Or Let the Artwork Convince You Not the Artist’s Brand
Artnet News, March 28, 2014 -
The Unruffled Irascible
by Carter Ratcliff, Art & Antiques, November 1, 2013 -
Unlikely Friends: James Brooks & Dan Flavin
Brooklyn Rail, February 1, 2012 -
James Brooks and Dan Flavin at Greenberg Van Doren
Village Voice, January 11, 2012 -
Eye to Eye: An Exhibition Celebrates the Artistic Friendship of James Brooks and Dan Flavin
Vogue.com, January 5, 2012 -
Homage to an Art-World Odd Couple
The Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2011 -
James Brooks
ARTnews, September 8, 2008 -
James Brooks
The New Yorker, March 24, 2008 -
Self-Possessed Passion
James Brooks: Black and White + ColorThe New York Sun, March 6, 2008 -
Best in Show
by R.C. Baker, The Village Voice, March 4, 2008
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