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Acknowledgements 

It would not have been possible to present this exhibition without the fullest cooperation of the artist, James Brooks, and his dealer, the Martha Jackson Gallery. At the latter, both David Anderson and Harold Hart were especially helpful, as was Elizabeth Carrington. On the Museum staff, Margaret Anne Cullum's assistance has been invaluable in all phases of the project and, as always Ester Houseman has helped substantially. To all of these people and to the many others who have aided us in other ways we are most grateful. 

Those museums and collectors who have so kindly lent to the exhibition are listed elsewhere. It is never easy to lend pictures these days so we are genuinely appreciative to all of them for their generosity. And finally, a special word of thanks is due the Meadows Foundation for a grant which enabled us to reproduce so many of the artist's works in color.

Merrill C. Rueppel
Director


Introduction 

This exhibition has been organized for two principal reasons. First, it seemed appropriate to honor a painter who, if not literally a native son, at least had strong childhood ties with this area and whose first serious art study took place here. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, James Brooks spent his teenage years in Dallas, attending Oak Cliff High School and Southern Methodist University. In addition to his art studies at SMU, he studied drawing at the newly formed Dallas Art Institute and also took private painting lessons until leaving for New York at age 20. Although he has returned infrequently since then, for a ten-year period in his life, Dallas was "home."

The second reason for assembling the exhibition has more to do with the specific character of Brooks' art. One of a small group of artist who, in the late 1940's, turned to a wholly abstract kind of painting that emphasized spontaneity, directness, and a certain autonomy of gesture, Brooks had gained recognition as one of the leading abstract expressionist painters in America by the middle fifties. His strong, well-balance compositions of bold forms and clear, bright colors, had a distinctive quality of sound structure that was readily identifiable. Determined to paint abstractly, to completely suppress and representational images, he concentrated on the elemental aspects of his art. Maintaining a high level of emotional intensity as a stimulus, he devoted himself to a continuing exploration of the essentially esthetic.