For artist Leo Brooks, Monhegan was a

Primordial Experience

by Sally MacVane

(from Courier-Gazette, Rockland, Me. July 1993)

MONHEGAN - Artist Leo Brooks of New York City and Monhegan Island died by his own hand on May 10th in New York City at the age of 84. Brooks was a long time member of the Hemlock Society and while his death saddened many of his close friends it did not surprise them. His art career was late blooming and amazingly prolific. From the age of 60 onward he poured accumulated creative energy into a mountain of constantly evolving, exciting work.

Anything and everything was fodder for Brooks art work. Fishermen working, women sunning on rocks, the sun beating down on Monhegan’s backside - all made their way onto his paper. He purchased paintings and art books, studied them and gave them away. He once literally asked a friend for the shirt off her back so he could live with the color for a while. Brooks’ energy and enthusiasm for life was contagious and his absence will be felt on the little island he loved so much.

Brooks was a familiar figure on Monhegan. An energetic and naturally outgoing man he set up shop each summer in his tiny space behind the laundry room at the Trailing Yew Hotel. At first he simply gave away or traded the bold watercolors he referred to as "color abstractions." However, in 1984 after his apartment in the Bronx was broken into, he began selling in earnest in order to replace items he had lost. Undeterred by cost, lovers of his vibrant style continued to flock to the room often leaving with a Brooks painting stuffed irreverently into a large trash bag.

Brooks was born in New York City in 1909. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. The senior Brooks was a tailor working in the days before ready-made clothes. As a result, the Brooks family (parents, 2 girls and a boy) spent extended periods of time living with the monied rich while the father made seasonal clothes for an entire family "We lived like the Rockefellers for months, said Brooks "and then returned home to the slums." This dual life of rich and poor was to impact on the artist in his later years when success and money came to him.

Brooks adult years were spent as a linotype operator at The New York Times. He married twice. Widowed the first time, he married again and produced a son, Woody. The marriage ended in divorce.

Brooks painting career began when he was 60. He was nearing retirement age when The New York Times went out on strike and he had time on his hands. He and a friend, decided to take painting lessons at the Art Students League. Brooks said he mainly went along to keep his friend company, but the friend dropped out after a week and Brooks stayed to study and paint.

Brooks studied with Mario Cooper at the League and later with renown teacher Edgar Whitney. When he confessed to Whitney that he knew very little about painting, Whitney said, "You’re just the guy I’ve been looking for. I can use your mistakes to teach all the know-it-alls in the class." When Whitney died, Brooks’ class continued to paint, forming their own group and calling themselves Thirty Artists. Brooks continued to paint with the Artists until shortly before his death. Their method might be described as "toughlove" in the art world. In the Whitney tradition, they never pass a complimentary word and dwell only on what needs to be corrected. This group became his family, especially in the final years when he could not attend class without their help.

Although Brooks like to refer to himself as an "amateur", he was not exactly a newcomer to the Arts. He had haunted museums and galleries since his youth. A man of strong opinions he knew what he liked and what he didn’t like. Setting type at The Times he read art and theater reviews. Never shy, he discussed the same with some of the more important critics at the newspaper. He did silver and enamel jewelry work, studying with Ada Husted Anderson, a well-known craftsperson who worked with Georg Jensen and was familiar with photographic techniques. In his twenties he worked for a society photographer "chasing weddings". During the 1920’s and 30’s he found work, like many other artists of the period, with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) taking photographs recording The Great Depression and its effect on city people’s lives. Some of the photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum.

Brooks social and political life were often at odds. A life long socialist/Marxist Brooks sympathies seemed to flow in the direction of the underdog and in his final years when his art work became successful he donated large sums to Planned Parenthood and thoughtfully gave money to young people to help pay for college tuition. But he was impressed with money and the people who had it and took delight in hobnobbing with the rich, riding in fancy cars and being entertained grandly. At the same time he continued to live simply in his rent controlled Bronx apartment, drove an ancient automobile to Maine each summer and deplored waste - particularly where food was concerned. A warm and thoughtful friend he could also be a formidable enemy when things did not go to his way.

When Brooks first saw Monhegan Island he was astounded. The outdoor life had attracted him even as a child when his father would take him into the mountains of New York State. When he found Monhegan he gave up all other experiences for this most primordial of all. The influence of Monhegan was enormous on his painting for it returned him to his childhood state of wonderment/

Brooks speaks of his childhood and his observations at the age of 6 in a letter written to his many friends shortly before his death.

". . . observing interesting trees, odd shapes . . . spruce jutting into the sky on a mountaintop . . . the powerful dynamic and stumbling over moss, twigs and stones . . . feeling that I am the same on a different scale as I climb over rocks and fallen trees."

Later he speaks of this influence on his painting.

". . . I love the forest and the myriad shapes I see in it . . . a great treasure left by my father who never owned anything of material value . . . all my life it was like a bank account that grew the more I took from it . . .Similarly, certain definite lines, rhythms and shapes will stir my whole being. I realize now it was my subconscious straining at the leash trying to get back to the serenity and excitement of the forest that causes me to uses the shapes and designs that I do . . . I must change the shapes to stir up my subconscious so that it will in turn stir me up."

In the final months of Brooks life his struggle with heart disease (he had bypass heart surgery in 1986), diabetes and failing eyesight became too much for him to continue to pursue the quality of life he desired. He shipped his most recent art work (other paintings had been carefully placed several years before) wrote a final letter to friends, mended a few fences of friendship and wrote "I Quit" on the calendar under the date of May 10.

Brooks work can be viewed at Gallery-by-the-Sea in Port Clyde June through September during regular gallery hours and year ‘round through this web site or by appointment with Sally MacVane in Port Clyde, ME. A book of photographs of current Brooks paintings being offered is also available for perusal. The above article appeared in part in The Courier Gazette, July, 1993. Copyright Sally and Bruce MacVane, Box 262, Port Clyde, Maine. It can not be reproduced without permission.