Romaine Brooks: A Life

by Cassandra Langer

The artistic achievements of Romaine Brooks (1874–1970), both as a major expatriate American painter and as a formative innovator in the decorative arts, have long been overshadowed by her fifty-year relationship with writer Natalie Barney and a reputation as a fiercely independent, aloof heiress who associated with fascists in the 1930s. In Romaine Brooks: A Life, art historian Cassandra Langer provides a richer, deeper portrait of Brooks's aesthetics and experimentation as an artist—and of her entire life, from her chaotic, traumatic childhood to the enigmatic decades after World War II, when she produced very little art. This provocative, lively biography takes aim at many myths about Brooks and her friends, lovers, and the subjects of her portraits, revealing a woman of wit and passion who overcame enormous personal and societal challenges to become an extraordinary artist and create a life on her own terms.

Romaine Brooks: A Life introduces much fresh information from Langer's decades of research on Brooks and establishes this groundbreaking artist's centrality to feminism and contemporary sexual politics as well as to visual culture.

Genres: Biography, Art, Nonfiction, Lesbian, LGBT

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2015

Reviews

[Bella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Cassandra Langer I literally couldn’t do anything without you ❤️

[Shayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so much to like this book. I wanted so much to read more about Romaine Brooks! This. Was. Terrible.

In the introduction, Langer states that she will structure her book in two ways. One, she will group chapters by subject and not relate the biography chronologically. Second, she will refer to the subjects interchangeably by their first and last names. Both of these she does because, no other biographies are written this way.

Biographies are written chronologically because they are stories. Stories not told in order are CONFUSING. She bounces around from year to year and within this muddle flips the names around from first to last, sometimes in the same sentence. Because she jumps around so much in the timeline, each time a person come back into the discussion, they have to be reintroduced. These choices make for a very frustrating and disorganized read.

Even in the chapter dedicated to Brooks’ artistic style, Langer cannot be bothered to move chronologically, nor assess one painting at a time. Again, she jumps around haphazardly. Even worse in this section, she challenges previous interpretations - such as that by Whitney Chadwick - actually uses the word “actually” to propose a correction, then a couple paragraphs later proceeds to rephrase the precise theory that she had just denounced and claim it as her own. It she wasn’t a woman, she would be guilty of mansplaining.

To make matters worse, whenever a peripheral character enters the scene, he or she must be related, in their entirety, to everyone who may have been someone worth noting. We are subjected to a laundry list of who this person knew or was connected to without any explanation as to why this backstory is relevant.

Indeed, Langer makes a lot of claims in this book that are unexplained, even by her copious footnotes.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romaine Brooks deserves better than this biography. Great artist, fascinating life, but the book is poorly organized, poorly written, poorly edited. A few examples: the author says the book is to be thematic rather than chronological, but this doesn't work particularly well. It leads to repetitions and omissions (for an instance of the latter, at one point she mentions that Laura Barney flees to New York at the start of WWII, but the only previous reference to Laura was a brief one in the introduction -- we get no sense of who Brooks's lover's sister was and why she is important enough to be mentioned).

Poor editing: One chapter is titled Fashioning Romaine 1934-38 but begins "After 1918..." and goes on, on the next page, to say "This chapter chronicles Brooks's development as an artist over a twenty-year period that spanned the arc of Modernism from its beginnings at the turn of the century through the emergence of Surrealism in the 1920s." Which 20-year period is in question is not the least bit obvious in any of this.

Poor editing and writing: "Romaine Brooks was a kind of rock star of her era, accomplishing this feat with a flare [sic] that remains unparalleled. How did she manage it? The answer may simply be *fashion*. Brooks understood the currency of style and taste." And so on. Better organization, better editing, less hero-worship, fewer generalizations, and most of all clearer thinking about what exactly Brooks's achievement was would have made this a much stronger book. Of course we need a Brooks biography that does not treat lesbianism as a pathology and that takes into account recent discoveries. I just wish this were a stronger one.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

really great to learn more of the history of romaine brook’s life art and relationships in this. loved the prints of the paintings and drawings that were included. I wish Any of the paintings or drawings were actually on display in the smithsonian (tho at least one of the portraits is in a collective exhibit in chicago currently)
the summaries of lavender marriages and gay life in paris of the 20s and 30s was also really intriguing
and the correction from previous biographies of a lack of jealousy between barney/brooks/de gramont was especially vindicating.
also the retroactive ???? questioning of meryle secrest’s biography including weird charlotte wolfe psychoanalysis of calling brook’s relationships emotional oedipal incest and deviant lesbianism was much appreciated cause wtf??

[Lila B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent comprehensive memoir that fills gap in the research about a fascinating artist. I read this for my thesis on Brooks. I found that the author was extremely partial towards Brooks which is fair but it clouded descriptions of Brooks’ fascism by trying to justify it. There was a lot of worshipping on Brooks, who doesn’t deserve that in my opinion. The organization of the book was very confusing, too. I would have liked, too, more robust descriptions of her paintings. However Thank you though Langer !!!

[Alison Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was captivating. I wanted to know more about Romaine Brooks and this book was perfect. The reader is provided with factual details amid a very flowing story that really captures the depth of her unique life. Romaine Brooks was ahead of her time. I’m in awe of her strength and courage. She lived life fully and rejected typical constraints of that time period. A survivor, an artist, a non conformist.

[Sofia Currin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written if a little confusing at times. If you're not paying attention you won't understand anything so paying attention is important. I like the way the author went at the book, admitting her faults but at the same time saying she still had good qualities. Most people hear something bad about someone and instantly their good qualities go away. This author wasn't afraid to embrace those bad traits to get to the real Romaine Brooks. It made for a good read.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well researched book that places Romaine Brooks on the art map for those unfamiliar with her work.
There is new biographical material and excellent end notes

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute treasure trove of research on my favorite artist (one who isn't given nearly enough attention)! It gives a far more nuanced view of her work and is more up to date than other materials (less homophobic bias and more credit of her being the modernist that she was).

If you're less well versed regarding art history (or the timeline in general) then the organizational structure will be challenging to contend with, but the structure of this biography does reveal new insights and research that are best suited to this format. (It's well worth it and a treat!)

The inclusion of her paintings were also very helpful - sometimes writings about art assume a familiarity with the images, but this made it easy to flip back and forth to see which work was being discussed and interact with it (it makes for pleasant reading - easier than needing a book in one hand and google in the other). Even with some familiarity it made for an easier read.

I also really enjoyed her lesbian sensibility and humor- down to earth and fun!

[Mills College Library]

Biog B8736L 2015

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned so much about an amazing artist