June 16, 2016
Media only:
Media website:
Laura Baptiste (202) 633-8494; [email protected]
americanart.si.edu/pr
Fact Sheet
“The Art of Romaine Brooks”
Exhibition
“The Art of Romaine Brooks”
June 17 – Oct. 2, 2016
Where
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Eighth and F streets N.W.
Description
Romaine Brooks (1874–1970) lived most of her life in Paris where she was a leading figure of an artistic
counterculture of upper-class Europeans and American expatriates, many of whom were creative, bohemian and
homosexual. Brooks crafted an androgynous appearance that challenged conventional ideas of how women
should look and behave, and these ideas extended to many of the portraits she painted in the 1920s, which are
some of her best known works. Brooks adopted a muted palette primarily of black, white and various subtle
shades of gray, sometimes with highlights of ochre, umber or red, strongly reminiscent of James McNeill
Whistler whose paintings she admired. Working in Paris at a time when Pablo Picasso and other modernist
artists were challenging traditional approaches to art, Brooks maintained her independence from contemporary
art movements. In the 1930s, Brooks began writing an autobiographical manuscript titled No Pleasant
Memories, and created a number of line drawings as illustrations that are not conventional narratives or
illustrations of the existing world, but ideas, dreams and emotional states embodied in archetypal figures. The
book was never published, and Brooks all but abandoned her art career by the late 1930s.
Brooks’ exploration of gender and sexuality in many of her portraits led to renewed interest in her work in the
1980s, and her powerful images are still compelling to audiences today. This exhibition brings together 18
paintings and 32 drawings from the museum’s permanent collection, a number of which have not been seen for
decades.
Commentaries about the artworks were written by Joe Lucchesi, associate professor at St. Mary’s College of
Maryland and curator of the exhibition “Amazons in the Drawing Room: The Art of Romaine Brooks” (2000).
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is located at Eighth and F streets N.W., above the Gallery
Place/Chinatown Metrorail station. Museum hours are 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (closed Dec. 25). Admission is
free. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Follow the
museum on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, iTunes U and ArtBabble.
Website: americanart.si.edu.
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Note to editors: Selected high-resolution images for publicity only may be downloaded from
americanart.si.edu/pr. Email [email protected] for the password.
SI-134A-2016