Alexander Brook (July 14, 1898 – February 26, 1980) was an American artist, teacher, and art critic, known for his paintings. He was active from 1910 until 1966.

Biography

Brook was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on July 14, 1898, to a Russian family. At the age of twelve he was bed-ridden with

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

. It was during this time that he received his first lessons in painting. In 1914 he entered the Art Students League of New York, where he studied for four years with

Kenneth Hayes Miller Kenneth Hayes Miller (March 11, 1876 – January 1, 1952) was an American painter, printmaker, and teacher. Career Born in Oneida, New York, he studied at the Art Students League of New York with Kenyon Cox, Henry Siddons Mowbray and with Willi ...

John Christen Johansen John Christen Johansen (November 25, 1876 – May 23, 1964) was a Danish- American portraitist. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics. Background Johansen was born in Copenhagen and ...

Frank DuMond Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teach ...

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...

, and Dimitri Romanovski. There he met the painter

Peggy Bacon Margaret Frances Bacon (May 2, 1895 – January 4, 1987) was an American artist, best known for her satirical caricatures. Bacon studied under Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League of New York, where she taught herself drypoint an ...

, whom he married in 1920. Brook also studied at the Pratt Institute. During his twenties, Brooks painted still lifes and posed figures with vigor and sensuality. He later began to emulate the style of

Jules Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 5, 1930), known as Pascin (; erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist known for his paintings and drawings. He later became an American citizen ...

. From 1924 to 1927 he was the assistant director of the Whitney Studio Club. He also worked as a reviewer for ''The Arts'' magazine. His realist painting was exhibited widely and he won multiple awards. ''Children's Lunch'' won the

Frank G Logan prize The Logan Medal of the Arts was an arts prize initiated in 1907 and associated with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Frank G Logan family and the Society for Sanity in Art. From 1917 through 1940, 270 awards were given for contributions to Ame ...

at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929 and ''Georgia Jungle'' won the

Carnegie Prize The Carnegie Prize is an international art prize awarded by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It currently consists of a $10,000 cash prize accompanied by a gold medal. History The Carnegie Prize was established in 1896, to ...

at the Carnegie International art exhibition in 1939. He also received the

Temple gold medal Joseph E. Temple Fund Gold Medal (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts most years from 1883 to 1968. A Temple Medal recognized the best oil painting by an American artist shown in PAFA's annual e ...

at the

Pennsylvania Academy The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and Private university, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

in 1931 and a gold medal at the Paris International Exhibition in 1937. Unfortunately for Brook, the realist style fell out of favor late in the 1940s. Brook taught at the Art Students League of New York from 1933 until 1936 and again from 1942 until 1943. About 1940, he was divorced from Peggy Bacon. After a second marriage to Libby Bergere and spells living in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, in 1945 he married his third wife, the painter Gina Knee. In 1948 they moved to

Sag Harbor Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...

on eastern Long Island, where he retired from painting around 1965. His work can be found at a variety of museum collections, such as the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Albright-Knox Gallery.

References

External links

* * 1898 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Artists from Brooklyn People from Sag Harbor, New York Writers from Brooklyn American art critics Section of Painting and Sculpture 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Art Students League of New York alumni Art Students League of New York faculty 20th-century American male artists Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters {{US-painter-1890s-stub