Artist Spotlight: Romaine Brooks

Romaine Brooks, born Beatrice Romaine Goddard (May 1, 1874 – December 7, 1970), was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. The fortune she inherited from her mother allowed her to ignore social conventions and pursue affairs with Ballets Russes dancer Ida Rubenstein, writer and politician Gabriele D'Annunzio, and writer and salon host Natalie Barney, among the most notable.

She could also afford to go her own direction in her painting style. She avoided the then current trends of fauvism and cubism in favor of the style of the aesthetes, specifically James McNeil Whistler. She limited her palette to mostly shades of gray with tints of ocher and sepia, giving her work a soulful, wintry feeling.

Dismissed in her time, Brooks's work has increased in value and interest since the 1980s and the resurgence of figurative painting. Her work is also seen as a precursor to present day artists who explore gender and sexuality in their art.