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Book reviews for "Brooks,_Romaine" sorted by average review score:
Between Me and Life: A Biography of Romaine Brooks.
Published in Hardcover by Doubleday (1974)
Author: Meryle. Secrest
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"an account of unsung artistic and feminist history"

"..Romaine Brooks risked certain formal solutions 52 years before Picasso dared to attempt them". -Edouard MacAvoy, President, Salon D'Automne.

Meryle Secrest's, "Between Me and Life- a biography of Romaine Brooks" pays homage to one of this century's most perilous, vital, and neglected painters. Romaine Brooks' portraits captured a darker human essence, a psychological tapestry of secrets, earning her the title,"Thief of Souls". Her subjects included many of the most profound and influential members of the european artistic community, including Jean Cocteau, and Natalie Barney. Her sketches and short stories employ emotional and stylistic minimalism, revealing sharp torment and a deep-seated fear of abandonment. Color plates included give readers a rare look at some of Brook's most famous works ("Self Portrait", "Jean Cocteau A L'Epoque..", "Ida Rubenstein"), part of the National Collection in Washington. Archival black and white photos of Romaine's family, friends, and fancies are also included, bringing us closer not only to the artist, but the woman.

Secrest chronicles Brook's life in great detail; a frightful childhood of nurseries and substitutes, a superstitious and vengeful mother, psychological confusion, family disintegration, sexual liberation, wealth, and an artistic innovation that influenced future masters, including Picasso.

Secrest writes power and conviction, yet is both compassionate and insightful with all subject matter. The extent of her research is vast, her respect for the artist, evident throughout the text, creating a stunning biography of a brilliant and unjustly overlooked painter. The biography is an immense contribution to the amnesiac artistic and feminist heritage of America.

Out of great love for Romaine Brooks, and deep appreciation for Meryle Secrest, I urge all people to read this book. Published in 1971, it is now considered hard to find, and (depending on the source)can get a bit pricey, but no cause to complain. The search is exciting, and the payoff immense. -Allison Lubas 10/9/97

Amazons in the Drawing Room: The Art of Romaine Brooks
Published in Paperback by University of California Press (2000)
Authors: Whitney Chadwick, Joe Lucchesi, Romaine Brooks, National Museum of Women in the Arts (U.S.), Berkeley Art Museum, Pacific Film Archive, and Nancy Risque Rohrbach
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A Good But Incomplete Job on Romaine Brooks
This book presents itself as "comprehensive and definitive" on the art and life of Romaine Brooks but alas falls short of the goal. Sadly, if you've waited 25 plus years for a decent book on Brooks since the extemely inadequate "Thief of Souls" catalogue from the early 1970's and the wonderful "Between Me and Life" biography by Meryle Secrest, this new catalogue will disappoint. My problem with it is that while bragging that it reproduces "34 of the 40 nudes and portraits" Brooks painted-- why, oh why, couldn't they finish the job and reproduce the remaining six? Even if it is a catalogue to a touring show what harm would it have done to add 3 pages of color plates and include the portrait of Paul Morand, the 2nd D'Annunzio protrait, the Carl Van Vechten and so on? Additionally, the book's format lacks the grandeur of Brook's work as it has a small, blockly format. On the plus side the color reproduction is excellent for all but two of the pictures--the D'Annunzio has too much yellow in it, and "the Huntress" is too dark. How many years must we wait to see all of her work reproduced in one large format resplendent volume, preferably on mat paper, and, for some of the pictures, their frames included? Additionally, the two essays are fine but hardly "definitive" as both are heavily indebted to the Secrest biography which is still the most thorough job on Brooks and inexplicably still out-of-print after 25 years. Still if you love Brook's art this is a must have as there is nothing else. Don't miss the show!

Romaine Brooks
Published in Paperback by Smithsonian Institution Press (1986)
Author: Adelyn Dohme Breeskin
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