Friends of the Wind
date: label: Date made
content: 1934
name: label: original artist
content: Brooks, Mildred Bryant
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: "Friends of the Wind" is a drypoint print by Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901-1995). Brooks, who was given a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian's U. S. National Museum in 1936, was known for her skillful etchings of trees. Although she also printed still lifes and figures, she remained committed to images of nature, perhaps stemming from her childhood study of the outdoors with her scientist father. This black and white print depicts tall, slender trees, forming two diagonal lines, which meet on the right side of the print. A stream winds off toward the horizon on the left side.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The trees are very detailed, the branches and leaves rendered with fine and delicate lines, evincing the influence on her by seventeenth-century Netherlandish printmaking. Conversely, Brooks gave little detail to the ground, except for the loosely drawn stream and tree shadows. The sky is completely without detail and the dark tree tops, which appear to blend together, provide a sharp contrast to the pale backdrop.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In addition to her printmaking, Brooks had an extremely prolific career as a painter, muralist, and interior decorator; she received numerous awards and prizes. Despite experiencing financial problems during the Depression and a shortage of supplies during World War II, she persevered by printing on her own press for other artists as well as herself; teaching, lecturing, and exhibiting extensively in her home state of California, and even producing educational films. Unfortunately, her failing vision cut her etching career short in the 1960s.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California
topic: label: Subject
content: Trees
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
label: See more items in
content: Communications
label: See more items in
content: Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: GA.17119
label: accession number
content: 138775
label: catalog number
content: 17119
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Print
label: Object Type
content: Drypoint
label: Other Terms
content: Print; Drypoint
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 18.6 cm x 20.2 cm; 7 5/16 in x 7 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 cm x 27.1 cm; 9 1/16 in x 10 21/32 in