James Brooks

American painter James Brooks was born in 1906. He began his career as a Social Realist and later became an Abstract Expressionist. He is best known for his murals, abstract paintings, and unique staining techniques. From 1936 to 1942, Brooks worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project in New York. During this period, he created many public murals, including Flight at LaGuardia Airport. During WWII, he served as a combat artist in Egypt and in the Near East, where he continued his realist depictions. When Brooks returned to America, he reconnected with fellow WPA artists, including Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock, and Bradley Walker Tomlin. At this point, he began to concentrate on abstraction and developed his signature staining technique or painterly accidents, which were influenced by Pollock’s action paintings. He then further developed his iconic style by experimenting with mixtures of commercial enamels and oils.

James Brooks’ work has been included in group and solo shows internationally, including the Courtauld Institute of Art, London,Tate Gallery, London, the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, MoMA, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. He has received a range of awards and fellowships, including Ford Foundation Purchase Award, NEA Grant, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.