Alexander Brook

Who was Alexander Brook?

Alexander Brook was an American artist and critic.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of twelve he was bed-ridden with polio. It was during this time that he received his first lessons in painting. In 1914 he entered the Art Students League, where he studied for four years. There he met the painter Peggy Bacon, whom he married in 1920. During his twenties, Brooks painted still lifes and posed figures with vigor and sensuality. He later began to emulate the style of Jules Pascin. From 1924-27 he was the assistant director of Whitney Studio Club. His realist painting was exhibited widely and he won multiple awards. Georgia Jungle won the Carnegie International. Unfortunately for Brook, the realist style fell out of favor late in the 1940s.

About 1940, he was divorced from Peggy Bacon. About the same time, he began living in Sag Harbor on eastern Long Island. In 1945 he married the painter Gina Knee. He retired from painting around 1965.