Nude Young Woman, Oil on Canvas by Alexander Brook, circa 1920's

This untitled piece was done by Alexander Brook, (1898 - 1980) a realist painter born in Brooklyn, NY, whose works mostly consisted of still-life subjects, landscapes, and quite often, women figures. Successful in his day, in 1930 he won second prize to Picasso's first, at the Carnegie Institute International Exhibition of Modern Painting. Mr. Brook studied at the Art Students League between the years of 1914-1918 where he interacted with Niles Spencer, Reginald Marsh, Kenneth Hays Miller, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and, significantly, he married artist Peggy Bacon in 1920. Along with Kenneth Hayes Miller, Brook studied with John C. Johansen, Frank V. DuMond, George Bridgeman and Dimitri Romanofski. Within this group lay the foundations of American Realism.

During the years 1928 through 1939, Alexander Brook had works in over one-hundred exhibitions, fifteen of which were one man shows. By the mid 1940’s, Brook had resumed teaching but demand for his work kept him in significant collections, galleries, and museums, including the Downtown Gallery (New York), the National Academy of Design, the Rehn Gallery, the Larcada and the Knoedler galleries. Brook received awards at the Art Institute of Chicago (1929), the Pennsylvania Academy (1931), the Guggenheim Fellowship (1931), and the San Francisco Art Association (1938).

This painting is oil-on-canvas, and has deep rich tones, a surprisingly androgynous subject for that era, and is a mood-setting piece for any room. The photos are good , but the piece in person is striking. It has been relined in the back.