1953
American
oil and crayon
Place Made,United States
Framed: 30 3/4 × 24 3/4 × 2 in. (78.11 × 62.87 × 5.08 cm)
58.23
Not on view

"The painting surface has always been the rendezvous of what the artist knows with the unknown, which appears on it for the first time." —James Brooks

Brooks was one of the founders of Abstraction Expressionism. Like his close friend Jackson Pollock, Brooks treated the paper or canvas as an improvisatory space. He encouraged “accidents,” such as oil bleeding through the surface, and then used these forms to inspire new shapes, building the composition in layers as he moved between spontaneous gestures and deliberate compositional choices.

signed lower left - "J. Brooks"
John Barton Payne Fund
VMFA: "Works on Paper", 30 Aug - 2 Oct 1977

VMFA Traveling Exhibit #27, "Watercolors by US Artists" 1956 - 1958
©artist or artist’s estate

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