Romaine Brooks papers
name: label: Creator
content: Brooks, Romaine
label: Names
content: Acten, Harold
label: Names
content: Barney, Natalie Clifford
label: Names
content: Bizardel, Yvon
label: Names
content: Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme, 1896-1986
label: Names
content: Brooks, Romaine
label: Names
content: Castelnou, Jean-Pierre
label: Names
content: Dreyfus-Barney, Laura
label: Names
content: Gauthier-Villars, Louis
label: Names
content: Lahovary, Janine
label: Names
content: Mac'Avoy, Edouard, 1905-
label: Names
content: Mariano, Nicky
label: Names
content: McClelland, Donald
label: Names
content: Noailles, Charles, vicomte de
label: Names
content: Strozzi, Uberto
label: Names
content: Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964
topic: label: Occupation
content: Portrait painters -- France
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
label: Topic
content: Portrait painting
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Artists' studios -- Photographs
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Romaine Brooks papers were donated by Meryle Secrest, Brooks's biographer, in 1999. Secrest received the letters and notebooks directly from Brooks's estate and compiled the remainder. Additional papers were transfered from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art via the Smithsonian Institution Archives in 1986. Two addition items were donated in 2024 by Secrest.
creator: label: Creator
content: Brooks, Romaine
setName: label: See more items in
content: Romaine Brooks papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of painter Romaine Brooks measure 3.002 linear feet and date from 1910 to 1973. Found are biographical sketches, correspondence, seven journals, writings and notes, printed materials, a scrapbook, and photographs. Most of the materials focus on Brooks' later life while living in Paris and Nice, France and Fiesole, Italy and make little reference to her paintings and portraits.

There is a 2 item unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2024 that includes a January 29, 2020 letter to Meryle Secrest from Melanie Hawthorne regarding Brooks and corresponding photocopy of an article by Hawthorne. Materials date from 2020.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Romaine Brooks (1874-1970) was a wealthy portrait painter who lived abroad for most of her life in Paris, and Nice, France, and Fiesole, Italy.

Beatrice Romaine Goddard was born in Rome, Italy on May 1, 1874 to Ella Waterman and Major Henry Goddard. Although born into wealth and privilage, Romaine did not have a happy childhood. Her mother was abusive to her, but doted on her mentally ill brother. Brooks' mother arranged for her to live with a poor family in a New York City tenement in exchange for meager payments, which were later stopped, while her brother and sister stayed with their mother. Later, she was sent to boarding school.

Eventually, Brooks left for Europe and took voice lessons and studied art in France and Italy. Her brother died in 1901 and her mother became physically ill. Brooks returned to the United States to tend to her mother who died less than a year after her son's death. Upon her mother's death, Brooks and her sister became heiress' to their grandfather, Issac S. Waterman Jr's substantial fortune. Brooks then began to lead a life of wealth and travel.

In 1903, Brooks married a friend, John Ellingham Brooks who was a homosexual. Brooks was bisexual, although according to her biographer Meryl Secrest she may have just enjoyed the companionship of living with someone. They lived together for a year until she left when he disapproved of her public androgynous style of dress.

Romaine first traveled to London and then returned to Paris, where she lived in the 16th arrondissement. She engaged in an elite social life and painted many of the friends in her circle. Brooks chose to paint portraits in a gray color palette, depicting many women in male dress. The somber nearly colorless palette and cross-dress of the sitter gave the paintings an androgynous look. One of her most notable paintings was her own self-portrait that represented this style. Inspired by James McNeill Whistler, Romaine largely ignored the Cubist and Fauvist movements.

In 1909, she met Gabriele D'Annunzio and engaged in a love affair. Among her other lovers are Ida Rubinstein, the Princess de Polignac, and the American writer, Natalie Barney. Natalie and Romaine were involved for fifty years, despite Barney's various affairs and other lovers. They shared a home with two separate wings, which allowed Brooks to be by herslf while Barney entertained friends.

In the 1930s, Brooks abandoned painting and created line drawings, which were featured in Bizarre magazine. After 1935, however, Brooks largely stopped being an active artist. She wrote her autobiography in the 1930s, No Pleasant Memories, as well as an account of her time spent in Italy.

During World War II, Brooks and Barney fled to Italy, where Brooks remained after the war ended. Her later life was marked with self-imposed isolation, even refusing to see Barney during her visits. Romaine Brooks died in 1970 in Nice, France.

After her death, Adelyn Breeskin curated an exhibit of her works at the National Collection of Fine Arts (1971) in Washington, D.C., and at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1971).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.002 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1910-2020
label: Date
content: bulk 1910-1973
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.brooroma
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Poems
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series:

Series 1: Biographical Information, circa 1967-1968 (Box 1; 2 folders)

Series 2: Personal Business Records, 1967 (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 3: Correspondence, 1924-1969, bulk 1950-1969 (Boxes 1-3; 0.8 linear feet)

Series 4: Writings and Notes, circa 1930s-1959 (Boxes 3-4; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1910-1973 (Boxes 4-6; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 6: Scrapbook, 1910-1931 (Box 6; 1 folder)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1910-1970s (Box 5-6, OV 7-8; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, 2020 (Folder 9;.002 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information note
content: The Romaine Brooks papers were previously cataloged as two individual collections and merged upon processing by Jayna Hanson in 2011. The papers were digitized in 2011 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies note
content: The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2012 and is available via the Archives of American Art's website. Duplicates and photographs of works of art have not been scanned. Only the covers, title pages, and relevant pages have been scanned for some printed materials.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Poems
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The papers of painter Romaine Brooks measure 3.002 linear feet and date from 1910 to 1973. Found are biographical sketches, correspondence, seven journals, writings and notes, printed materials, a scrapbook, and photographs. Most of the materials focus on Brooks' later life while living in Paris and Nice, France and Fiesole, Italy and make little reference to her paintings and portraits.

Biographical information includes biographical sketches and a sound recording of an interview of Brooks. 

Personal business records consists of one receipt, in French, for an item purchased by Brooks.

Correspondence is scattered and the bulk of it dates from 1950-1969. About half of the correspondence is in French and includes only a few of Romaine's replies. Notable correspondents include Harold Acten, Laura Barney, Yvon Bizardel, Adelyn Breeskin, Jean-Pierre Castelnau, Louis Gauthier-Villars, Janine Lahovary, Edouard MacAvoy, Nicky Mariano, Donald McClelland, Charles de Noailles, David Scott, Alan Searle, and Uberto Strozzi. Letters make little reference to Brooks's paintings, however some discuss her health and relationship with Natalie Barney. Also found is a small amount of Natalie Barney's personal correspondence dating from 1924-1968.

Writings and notes includes seven handwritten journal notebooks which contain Romaine's thoughts, quotes from poetry and literature, references to museums and works of art throughout Europe, and drafts of letters. Also found is a manuscript of  No Pleasant Memories, Brooks's autobiography, and A War Interlude, a book she wrote describing her life in Italy during World War II.

Printed material includes a copy of Natalie Barney's poetry, a poem by Brooks, a large-format copy of Gabriele D'Anunzio's poem Sur Une Image de la France Croisse Piente Par Romaine Brooks; magazines and exhibition catalogs concerning Brooks' art; clippings; and a nameplate for Eyre de Lanux, one of Barney's lovers.

There is one scrapbook which includes newsclippings, the majority of which are in French, concerning Brooks and her artwork from 1910 to 1931.

Photographs are of Brooks, of Brooks in her studio surrounded by her art; prints of photos of Brooks's mother and family; photographs of works of art including a photo of Brooks's portrait on John Cocteau hanging in the Louvre. Notable photographers include Carl Van Vecten and Perou.

There is a 2 item unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2024 that includes a January 29, 2020 letter to Meryle Secrest from Melanie Hawthorne regarding Brooks and corresponding photocopy of an article by Hawthorne. Materials date from 2020.