Romaine Brooks (Post 3)

      Romaine Brooks was an American artist born in Rome in 1874.  Romaine Brooks was born with the name of Beatrice Romaine Goddard.  She spent most of her time in France, the reason she spent most of her time in France is because her family abused her physically as well as pschycologically.  Her brother was insane and was aided by their mother in torturing Beatrice.  Romaine later on married her friend John E. Brooks.  After a year with her husband, they separated due to his overbearing qualities.  Mr. Brooks refused to allow Romaine to dress and behave in the way she wished to.  Romaine lived her life surrounded by women in a community dedicated to producing serious art.
       She has been repeatedly marginalizd in the history of modern art because of her career choices.  Romaine chose to do portraits, over the stylistic innovations and movements that were taking place during the time.  Romaine was monetarily independent and was freed by others thought about her art.  She had the freedom to not worry about whether she sold her art or not.  Although she did not need to sell her work, she did sell and exhibit her work.

        Romaine exhibited her work in the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1910.  The Galerie Durand-Ruel was the first gallery that exhibited the work of Impressionists.  This was her first exhibition, it focused on women.  The women were unnamed models.  These models inspired morbid eroticism and melancholy.  She did not restrict herself to unnamed models, she painted actresses and other famous persons.

         Romaine was a lesbian who forged a new image of a 20th century lesbian.  Her artwork reflected the image of the new woman.  The new woman represented an intelligent and physically powerful woman.  Although strength and intellect are corrrelated with the new woman they are also feminine.  The women were strong and depicted in some ways that were considered controversial.
               



        Ida Rubinstein was one of her favorite subjects.  She was a woman that Romaine painted frequently and in a variety of ways.  Her artwork was at times considered erotic as well as new.  Ida in this painting, right is bold and strong.  Her image reminds me of a samurai looking off into the distance waiting for what may come.  Although there is a strength in her, I also see a soft sadness in her expression.  Romaine was said to be able to capture the true identity of the person in her artwork.
          Her most controversial her best work of art was criticized because  of her attire.   She wore men's clothing in her self -portrait which outraged many people. Her expression is both menacing and fearful depending on when and how you feel when you look at the painting.  The strength and boldness in the painting combined with the expression in her faces shows how conflicted she was about herself. Her choice in clothing is also seen in her art work.  The black, greys, and whites used in her day to day clothing were also her preferred colors for her artwork.
           Romaine lived a very controversial life.  She openly lived her life with her partner Natalie Barney, a poet.  They had a homes joined together by a dinning room.  They did not live in the same home because of disagreements on life style but did allow the world to know that they were together.  Her artwork displayed the type of person she was just as much as the subject.  Towards the end of her career she chose to draw more then paint.  Her artwork has been forgotten at times and not appreciated, but continues to pop up in the art world.

Women at this time were still restricted by what society thought of them and the normal behavior that was expected of women.  Romaine lived a life that was in no way accepted by the majority of people, she did find people who accepted her but they were rare.  Her own husband did not accept her and her life style, although he was bisexual.  Brooks married Romaine in order to have a "normal outward appearance."  This is further proof of how strict society still was at this time.

Bibliography

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.
http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=599
http://home.earthlink.net/~bigsismedia/brooksbio.html
http://www.jssgallery.org/other_artists/Romaine_Brooks/Self-Portrait_1923.htm