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Nicholas A. Brooks was a trompe l'oeil painter who specialized in tabletop still lifes and images of paper money. Born in Manhattan, and raised in Brooklyn where his father was variously employed as a stove dealer, tinsmith, mechanic, engineer, Brooks established his career as an artist in the late 1860s, when he began exhibiting Hudson River landscapes and still lifes at the Brooklyn Art Association in 1868.
Following his marriage in 1873, Brooks was briefly employed as a clerk. It was not until 1879 that he resumed his career as an artist, and moved back to Manhattan. After four years, when he was again living in Brooklyn, Brooks returned to Manhattan, settling on the same block of Fourteenth Street where William Harnett resided. It was at this time, probably through Harnett's influence, that Brooks began painting his numerous images of currency. Indeed Brooks adopted a style so close to Harnett's that some of his works were sold with Harnett's signature. It was through Harnett that Brooks may have met Robert Fullerton, the owner of the Old Curiosity Shop on Third Avenue. This locale appears frequently in Brooks's paintings. Harnett and Fullerton were members of the club from 1891 to 1897. Brooks also created paintings including images of playbills and theater tickets. Fascinated by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Brooks produced a number of paintings including memorabilia from the Ford Theater.
Nicholas Brooks's works are included in many important private and public collections including the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio; the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Massachusetts; the Brandywine River Museum; and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
LNP
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