Adrien Broom is a contemporary fine art and commercial photographer from
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
. Broom's fine art photography often alludes to themes of childhood fantasy, with young women as the protagonists. Her commercial work includes fashion and portrait photography.
Biography
Broom received a bachelor's degree in computer animation from
Northeastern University, studied fine art in
Florence, Italy at Studio Art Centers International (
SACI), and art history in the
Christie's Education
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, ...
program in London. Citing childhood memories as an important catalyst, she makes use of period costumes to compose images that are often derived from fairy tales, but "It's a little darker than my reality as a child, drawing on my adult vision of the beautiful and bizarre." When composing fantasy-based scenarios on a miniature scale, Broom constructs sets in her studio using malleable and found objects. A current project continues to draw from the interest in fairy tale imagery, with the exploration of color as a
unifying theme. As part of her commercial assignments, Broom regularly photographed
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are an American rock band from Vermont, formed in 2002 in Waitsfield by drummer Matt Burr, guitarist Scott Tournet, and singer Grace Potter. They began their career as an indie band, self-producing their albums a ...
.
Broom's photographs have been featured in numerous exhibitions in Connecticut and New York City, as well as in the ''American Dreamers'' exhibition at the
Palazzo Strozzi
Palazzo Strozzi is a palace in Florence, Italy.
History
The construction of the palace was begun in 1489 by Benedetto da Maiano, for Filippo Strozzi the Elder, a rival of the Medici who had returned to the city in November 1466 and desired the ...
in Florence in 2012. For art historian Roderick Conway Morris, Broom's photographs of ethereal female figures include references to
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
art,
Baroque sculpture and
Symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sym ...
. Bartholomew Bland, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the
Hudson River Museum
The Hudson River Museum, located in Trevor Park in Yonkers, New York, is the largest museum in Westchester County. The Yonkers Museum, founded in 1919 at City Hall, became the Hudson River Museum in 1948. While often considered an art museum by th ...
, writes that "through the use of photography, Broom cleverly conceals from us her meticulous craftsmanship....in Broom's (work) it is easy to forget that many of the most dramatic effects are created by hand."
[Bland] In her miniature dioramas, Broom uses both overt narrative and enigmatic imagery, with references to classical art as well as existential literature.
[Bland]
Working at
Erector Square in
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
, Broom often supplements her studio's ample natural light with artificial illumination. Her work entails three distinct components: the building of sets, the photographic shoot itself and the subsequent editing of images. According to Broom, the construction of a set takes between one and three weeks. "My sets take a while to build, and renting a space per project just wouldn’t make sense."
In 2015, Broom's photographs and installations were the subject of an exhibition at the Hudson River Museum. In 2016, Broom's photographs on the grounds of the
Florence Griswold Museum
The Florence Griswold Museum is an Art Museum at 96 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Connecticut centered on the home of Florence Griswold (1850–1937), which was the center of the Old Lyme Art Colony, a main nexus of American Impressionism. The Museum i ...
were exhibited in a group show there. Her photographs were also the subject of a solo show at the
Lyman Allyn Art Museum. For a series of works in 2016, Broom designed a specially illuminated dress for a model she photographed in the vast interior of
Wentworth Woodhouse
Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. The building has ...
.
"Photographer Adrien Broom Sheds Light on Old Structures in Her Work," Amy Crawford, ''Smithsonian Magazine'', October 2016
/ref> Broom's photographs on the grounds of the Griswold Museum and Wentworth House are part of a larger series inspired by Wentworth, ''Holding Space: Historic Homes Project'', which has also included photographs taken at the Mark Twain House
The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. It was designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and built in the American High Gothic style.
Clemens bi ...
and on the Fishers Island Ferry. Broom has been assisted in this project by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and has cited the importance of preparation for the narratives she develops; three months of research on Mark Twain's life preceded her work at the Twain house. In the end, the Twain series focused primarily on the author's wife and daughters.[Biekert] Broom has planned further shoots for the series at other historic residences, including Gillette Castle State Park
Gillette Castle State Park straddles the towns of East Haddam, Connecticut, East Haddam and Lyme, Connecticut in the United States, sitting high above the Connecticut River. The castle was designed and built by William Gillette (1853–1937), an Un ...
, the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center
In November 1945, Jackson Pollock and his wife Lee Krasner moved to what is now known as the Pollock-Krasner House and Studio in Springs in the town of East Hampton on Long Island, New York. The wood-frame house on with a nearby barn is ...
and the Alice Austen House.[Biekert]
Accolades
In 2019, she was listed among the 40 Under 40 List put out by ''Connecticut Magazine
''Connecticut Magazine'' is an American monthly magazine covering the life, culture, politics, and style of the state of Connecticut. Founded in 1971, it was purchased in 2017 by the Hearst Corporation. It is a sister magazine of ''Connecticut Br ...
''.["40 Under 40: The Class of 2019."]
(''Connecticut Magazine
''Connecticut Magazine'' is an American monthly magazine covering the life, culture, politics, and style of the state of Connecticut. Founded in 1971, it was purchased in 2017 by the Hearst Corporation. It is a sister magazine of ''Connecticut Br ...
'') (January 23, 2019) Retrieved March 5, 2019.
Sources
*Bland, Bartholomew. ''Dream No Small Dreams: The Miniature Worlds of Adrien Broom, Thomas Doyle and Patrick Jacobs'', Ronchini Gallery
Ronchini Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Lorenzo Ronchini in Umbria, Italy, in 1992. Artists exhibited at the gallery include: Jacob Hashimoto, Will Cotton, Conrad Marca-Relli, Berndnaut Smilde, Sean Lynch (artist), Paul Jenk ...
, London, 2013.
Barry, Amy J. "Reality with a Twist", ''Grace Magazine, The Day'', February 16, 2011
Barry, Amy J. "Activating the Playful Side of the Brain", ''The Day'', January 6, 2011
Centre for Contemporary Culture at Palazzo Strozzi
"Lyme's Adrien Broom exhibits in Italy", ''The Day'', April 8, 2012
Barry, Amy J. "Adrien Broom's current project thrives in living color". ''The Day'', April 7, 2013
Pantovich, Mila. "Ultra Talented Artist Adrien Broom Takes a Moment to Tell Us About Just What Fuels Her Curious Worlds", ''JustLuxe'', April 28, 2014
References
External links
Adrien Broom website
photography by Adrien Broom at Grace Potter and the Nocturnals website
"Adrien Broom's Bizarre World", ''PocketWizard''
"Adrien Broom on Location", ''PocketWizard''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broom, Adrien
American photographers
Fashion photographers
Artists from Connecticut
Living people
Northeastern University alumni
American women photographers
American installation artists
1980 births
21st-century American women