Moe Albert Brooker (September 24, 1940 – January 9, 2022) was an African American painter, educator and printmaker. An abstract artist, he used vivid colors, lines, stripes, squares and circles to infuse a feeling of improvisational jazz in his works. Brooker was an internationally known artist whose paintings are in the collections of major museums and other institutions.

Early life and education

Brooker was born in Philadelphia on Sept. 24, 1940, to the Rev. Mack Henry Brooker Sr., an AME minister, and Lumisher E. Brooker, a community leader and political activist. He was named after a family friend who died in World War II. His father was from

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and got a theology degree from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

. He also worked as a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and r ...

to support his family of seven children. Brooker grew up in

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Louis B. Sloan graduated – and was there until 1963, earning a certificate in painting. The Pennsylvania Academy had not been a welcoming place for Sloan and Raymond Saunders, two Black students who preceded Brooker in the 1950s, Brooker said. They advised him and the new Black students on ways to survive: work hard and don't mess around, win the school's traveling scholarships and make their place in the art world. Both of them had received traveling scholarships to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Saunders also insisted that he go to

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

so he could teach, earn a living and paint every day. Brooker was also influenced by Morris Blackburn, who had attended the academy in the 1920s, who introduced him to the works of

Dox Thrash Dox Thrash (1893–1965) was an African-American artist who was famed as a skilled draftsman, master printmaker, and painter and as the co-inventor of the Carborundum printmaking process.Donnelly, Michell"The Art of Dox Thrash" The Encyclopedia ...

and artist Charles Pridgen. Pridgen used

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

in his works, which is exemplified in his 1950 painting “The Blues,” in the collection of the

African American Museum in Philadelphia The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) is notable as the first museum funded and built by a municipality to help preserve, interpret and exhibit the heritage of African Americans. Opened during the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations, th ...

. Among his classmates at the academy was Ellen Powell Tiberino, who was few years ahead of him. While at PAFA, Brooker often visited the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

where he encountered Julius Bloch’s “Stevedore.” It was the first positive depiction of a Black man he had ever seen. He was influenced by it, just as he was by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

’s realistic images of Africans that Brooker later saw in his trips to the

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. Brooker was awarded the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Traveling Scholarship in 1962, just as Saunders had in 1956. After receiving a certificate from PAFA in 1963, he was drafted into the Army and spent a year in Korea, from 1964 to 1965. It was there where he saw vivid colors in a funeral procession that left a deep impression on him. Brooker enrolled at the

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

at Temple University, obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

s in 1970 and 1972, respectively. As a graduate student, he taught

silkscreen Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open me ...

printing at the Brandywine Workshop, a stint that improved his skills as a

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

and teacher. He would return to Brandywine years later to produce prints. He spent a year at Tyler's program in Rome in 1968–1969.

Evolution of his style

Brooker was the youngest in a family of children who could all draw. He didn't draw lollipop trees like the other children in his elementary classes. His trees had branches, and his people had arms, fingers and faces. He always wanted to be an artist, although his father tried to dissuade him. As a child, he used chalk to draw

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, Captain Marvel and Green Hornet figures on the pavement streets. After school, when he was about 11 or 12, he spent time at St. Martha's House, a community center, where he gravitated toward art classes. Among his influencers were members of his family: He imitated the drawings of his older siblings, was enamored with the stylings of his

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist brother Mitch Avery (who was named after his father but chose a stage name so he wouldn't embarrass him), and marveled at the patterns and colors in his grandmother's hand-sewn

quilt A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, a ...

s. Brooker's earliest works were figurative, and his subjects were taken from the church: parishioners in the pews, men nodding off to sleep, young couples and grandmothers, a woman shouting in the back, the women's hats. He wasn't taught color in his art classes, so he decided to seek it out on his own. He found the books of Russian abstract artist

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

and started experimenting. He was painting semi-abstract works while teaching at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

in the mid-1970s. He hit a dry spell, but was re-energized on a trip back to Philadelphia. He commuted from Chapel Hill to Philadelphia where his family lived. Driving through the city, he saw

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

on the buildings – abstract drawings of shapes, colors, letters that seemed to pulsate with energy. He saw pride and anger in the works, and incorporated those emotions into his own. He went one step farther and added lines to connect what looked like disparate parts into a unified statement. By the late 1970s, he had begun to find his voice. Color was energy, he explained, as represented in the minister's preaching and the gospel choir's singing. He began to relate the graffiti to music, which had been a large part of his life. He understood the structure of music and began to use it in the narratives of his paintings.

“The point about abstraction is you develop your own language. Language becomes pretty important to me. Why? The mystery of language is that it’s 26 letters and yet from those letters because you can combine and re-combine them you can make an infinite number of words. I think the same thing about the elements you use in terms of making drawings. Line, point, shape, value, color, form. You can take and begin to use them in new ways each time and then create something new and something different.”

It would take seven years for him to complete the transformation to professionalism. He sold his first abstract painting, “A Struggle to be,” to a gallery in

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, OH. The Black-owned Malcolm Brown Gallery in that city often exhibited and sold works by African American artists. While teaching at the

Cleveland Institute of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at fir ...

, Brooker won first prize for his painting “Afternoon Delight II” in the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

’s annual May Show in 1978. He won again in 1981 and in 1985, he was winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize. The award was the impetus for a show at the Robert L. Kidd Associates, Inc. Galleries in Birmingham, MI, where all of his works sold out and his prices increased. “If jazz could be expressed in purely visual terms, it might look like Brooker’s works – a series of improvisations laid over a recognizable structure,” wrote one reviewer. Another noted that his titles were laced with folk wisdom: “Slow Motion Monday,” “What goes round comes round,” “There’s nothing to do but Today, “I can’t dance and it’s too wet, I can’t plow.“ Brooker created

mixed-media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art incl ...

works on canvas and paper using acrylics, base coat, oils, oil sticks and encaustic, an Egyptian medium that combined hot wax with color. As a printmaker, he participated in a yearlong project at the

Maryland institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a private art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the oldest art colleges in the U ...

in 1987 to produce silkscreen prints. His works and those of five other artists were featured in an exhibit titled “Painters Make Prints.” Brooker signed his works with the lettering “TTGG,” or “To the Glory of God,” much the same as

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

had done. The composer signed his compositions “S. D. G.” It is a Latin term for Soli Deo Gloria or “to the Glory of God alone.”

Art and teaching careers

Brooker was a nationally and internationally recognized teacher. After graduate school in 1972, he taught at Tyler for one year. In 1974, he became an assistant professor at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

in Charlottesville. The next year he was hired in the senior position of associate professor at the University of North Carolina. He participated in faculty shows and external exhibits during his stints at both schools. In 1978, he began teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art as an associate professor in painting and drawing, and remained there until 1985. He was its first Black faculty member. Again, he exhibited in faculty shows and museums, and was commissioned to create artwork for the newly built Hough Branch Library in Cleveland. He had a one-man show at the institute in 1978. It was here where he won the prizes in the Cleveland Museum of Art competitions. In 1985, he got married and returned to Philadelphia, where he was hired for a teaching position at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1986, he was represented in an exhibit at the

Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) () is a public fine arts university established in 1940 in the southwest City of Chonqing, China. It is one of the four most prominent art academies in China and the only one in southwest China. History and reput ...

and the

Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts The Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts (TJ Arts; ) is a public art college in Tianjin, China. The academy is sponsored by the Tianjin Municipal People's Government. The Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1906 with the original name of Peiya ...

in China as part of an east–west exchange orchestrated by the Cheltenham (PA) Center for the Arts. A year later, he was one of three artists awarded two-month grants to teach at the Tianjin academy and travel throughout the country. The grant was sponsored by the City of Philadelphia. After returning to the United States, the three gave a talk about their trip at the

Philadelphia Art Alliance The Philadelphia Art Alliance at University of the Arts is a multidisciplinary arts center located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. It is the oldest multidisciplinary arts center in the United States for visua ...

. The works they created in China and afterward were on display at the Nexus Foundation for Today's Art. Brooker also exhibited some of those works at the Malcolm Brown Gallery in Ohio. Brooker took a position as the chair of the Foundation program at the Parson School of Design in New York in 1990, where he stayed until 1994. He became a faculty member at the

Moore College of Art & Design Moore College of Art & Design is a private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its undergraduate programs are available only for female students, but its other educational programs, including graduate programs, are co-educational. Hist ...

in 1995, first as a teacher and then as chair of its Foundations program. He traveled across the country to review portfolios and recruit high school students for the school. In 2011, he received the Penny and Bob Fox Distinguished Professorship at Moore, its first endowed professorship. Brooker retired from Moore in 2012. Brooker conducted workshops at several art colonies: the Mississippi Art Colony at Camp Henry Jacobs in Utica (MS) in 1996 and the Tougaloo Art Colony (AL) in 2004. Brooker was also a mentor to many artists. In one instance, he showed his abstracts in a 2004 exhibit along with 13 artists with whom he had been meeting to discuss their works and offer feedback. The show was held at the Atelier Fine Art Gallery in Frenchtown, NJ.

Service to the arts community

Brooker served on the Philadelphia Art Commission during two controversial periods. He was a member of the commission in 2006 when it was considering whether to return the “Rocky” statue to the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Brooker opposed the move. He labeled the statue - which was used in Sylvester Stallone's 1976 “ Rocky” movie – a prop and not art. The commission voted to place it in a spot near the steps of the museum. He was chairman of the committee in 2009 when it considered a design for a new building to house the

Barnes Foundation The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pen ...

. There had been a lengthy fight in the courts over transferring the collection from Merion, PA, in the suburbs of Philadelphia to

Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Named for founding father Benjamin Franklin, the mile-long Parkway c ...

among other major city museums. A new building was built on the Parkway and the Barnes was re-located. He was on a committee to determine what artwork would be placed in the new

Pennsylvania Convention Center The Pennsylvania Convention Center is a multi-use public facility in the Market East, Philadelphia, Market East section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed to accommodate conventions, exhibitions, conferences and other events. The "L"-shaped ...

in 1992. He was commissioned in 2017 to do a painting to hang in the center, titling it “Amazing Grace.” His painting “Everything Is On Its Way To Somewhere” was chosen to be hung at the

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a large performing arts venue at 300 South Broad Street and the corner of Spruce Street, along the stretch known as the Avenue of the Arts in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is owned and ...

in Philadelphia in 2006.

Member of Recherche

Brooker was a member of a cooperative of Black artists called Recherche, which means “intensely sought-after, choice, rare.” It was founded in 1983 after an exhibit of Black artists at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts. The founders were Syd Carpenter, James Dupree, Carolyn Hayward-Jackson, Richard Jordan,

Charles Searles Charles Robert Searles (July 11, 1937 – November 27, 2004) was an African American artist born in Philadelphia in 1937. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was active from the 1960s until he died in 2004 from complications fr ...

, Hubert C. Taylor and Andrew Turner. Among the other members was Leroy Johnson, who joined in 1993. The aim of the coalition was to show that Black artists worked in a diversity of mediums, styles and subjects; to dispel the myth of the so-called “Black artist,” and to encourage young aspiring artists of color. Recherche was also formed because Black artists were largely left out of most exhibitions at museums, galleries and alternative spaces. Collectively, the members organized exhibits and projects on their own. Brooker traveled with Recherche to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in 1989 to exhibit and celebrate the centennial of its abolition of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in 1986. The Danes returned the visit by coming to Philadelphia for an exhibit at the Port of History Museum two months later. Recherche members held exhibits in Dallas in 1991, and at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Moore College of Art & Design and

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

Museum.

Commissions and exhibitions

Brooker received a major commission in 2014 to create windows for an elevator tower at the

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building in Wyandanch, NY. He produced 12

stained-glass windows Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

10 feet tall by 7 feet wide in an abstract pattern. The Pennsylvania Convention Center commissioned him to create a huge canvas that was unveiled in April 2021. Brooker also made a commemorative and fundraising poster for the Odunde Festival in 1995. He participated in a project to bring art to the people by producing posters that were erected at city bus-stop shelters. His was titled “Open Secret.” He was also commissioned to do an ad in 1992 for

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. In the mid-1980s, he completed a residency at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. In 2011, he presented a fabric scarf for its “Close at Hand: Philadelphia Artists from the Permanent Collection” exhibit. In 1971, he was in an exhibit at the Philadelphia Recreation Department's Lee Cultural Center titled “Young, Gifted and Black.” One of his abstracts won first prize. The show was produced with the Urban Outreach Department at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with an aim of highlighting the talents of young Black artists in the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

who faced difficulty getting their works before the public.

Death

Brooker died on Jan. 9, 2022.

Selected awards

*James Van Der Zee Lifetime Achievement Award, Brandywine Workshop, 2003 *Conrad Nelson Fellowship, Millersville University, 2004 *Artists of the City Award, Painted Bride Art Center, 2008 *Medal of Achievement, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 2009 *Artist of the Year Award (Hazlett Memorial Award), from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, 2010 *Artists Equity Award, 2010 *Honoree, African American Museum in Philadelphia, 35th anniversary celebration, 2011

Selected collections

Selected exhibitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooker, Moe 1940 births 2022 deaths 20th-century African-American painters 20th-century American painters 21st-century African-American people American male painters Artists from Philadelphia Temple University alumni 20th-century American male artists