James Brooks (American, 1906–1992) was a renowned Abstract Expressionist painter. He was considered to be among the first generation of American Abstract Expressionists who employed staining as a painting technique. Born in St. Louis, MO, Brooks lived in a number of cities and states before his family finally settled in Dallas, TX. In 1922, he graduated from Oak Cliff High School, and he later studied art at the Southern Methodist University. He also attended the Dallas Art Institute and took private art lessons from Martha Simkins.
Brooks moved to New York in 1926, where he worked as a commercial artist while attending night classes at the Art Students League under Boardman Robinson. By 1930, Brooks was exhibiting works executed in a Social Realist style in New York galleries and exhibitions. One of his 1950s famous murals titled Flight was painted 235 feet along the Marine Air Terminal’s rotunda at La Guardia Airport in New York. The mural, which was considered to be a symbol of left-wing ideas, was taken down, but restored in 1980 after protests by artists, historians, and curators.
After serving in the United States Army between 1942 and 1945, Brooks returned to New York, NY, and developed a new style of abstract painting based on the synthetic Cubist ideas of Pablo Picasso. He worked on a series of stained canvases in the Abstract Expressionist style, which were featured at the Peridot Gallery in New York, NY. Brooks’s work was featured in group exhibitions, such as the 1951 Ninth Street Exhibition, and exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Some of his solo exhibitions include the James Brooks: Six Decades exhibition at the Joan T. Washburn Gallery in New York, NY, in 2002, and In Confluence at the Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, NY, in 2009. Brooks was also remembered as a great art teacher at the University of Philadelphia, PA, and at Columbia University in New York. He died of Alzheimer’s disease in his Long Island home in 1992.
Peridot Gallery, New York, NY (first solo show), 1950
Kootz Gallery New York, 1961
Whitney Museum of Art, NY, NY, 1963
Kootz Gallery, NY, NY, 1965
Philadelphia Art Alliance, 1966
Metropolitan Museum of American Art, NY,1967
Martha Jackson Gallery, NY, 1968
Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1969
Berenson Gallery, Miami, FL, 1969
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1976
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, 1981
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 1993
James Brooks: In Retrospect , Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY (solo), 2001
James Brooks: Six Decades, Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York, NY (solo), 2002
Selected Paintings 1960-85, Artemis Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY (solo), 2003
James Brooks Selected Works 1948-1986 Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (solo), 2004
Black & White, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, NY, 2004
Accrochage, Kouros Gallery, November 1 - December 30, NY
Another View: New York School, Opalka Gallery, Albany, NY, 2005
The Irascibles: on paper, CDS Gallery, November 4 - January 21, NY, 2005
Artists and Nature in Eastern Long Island: 1940s to Today, Spanierman Gallery, 2005
James Brooks: A Survey of Small Paintings, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY (solo), 2005
Omaggio a James Brooks - Lorenzelli Arte, Milan (solo), 2005
James Brooks at the Dallas Museum of Art - A Celebration - Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
James Brooks - Variations on a Theme - Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, IL (solo), 2006
James Brooks: Variations on a Theme, Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, IL (solo), 2006
Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, St. Louis, MO (solo), 2006
Charles Pollock: The Chapala Series 1955-1956, Jason McCoy Gallery, NY, 2007
September Selections, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2007
James Brooks. Works from the 7 - Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Black and White + Color - Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York City, NY (solo), 2008
James Brooks: Black and White + Color, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY (solo), 2008
James Brooks: A Selection from the Estate from 1952-1980, American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich, Germany (solo), 2008
East End Artists, Past and Present , Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, 2008
East End Artists, Past and Present , Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, 2008
Fall Selections, Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2008
Black & White, American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich, Germany, 2008
Peggy Guggenheim e la Nuova Pittura Americana, Arca, Chiesa di San Marco, Vercelli, 2008
Abstract Expressionism: Further Evidence, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, NY, 2009
Collect with us, Armand Bartos Fine Art, NY, 2009
The Gallery Selection, American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich, Germany, 2009
2009 In Confluence: James Brooks and Giorgio Cavallon, Jason McCoy Gallery, 2009
James Brooks: Geometry and Gesture: Selected Works from 1968 – 1979, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY (solo), 2009
James Brooks: Paintings and Works on Paper from the 1940s, Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, IL (solo), 2010
Abstract Expressionism: Reloading the Canon, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, NY, 2011
After Paradise, Jason McCoy Inc., New York, NY, curated by Stephanie Buhmann, 2011
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