Charlotte Park, an abstract expressionist known for the color and light in her painting, died December 26, 2010 at her house in Springs. She had been living with Alzheimer's Disease for several years.
Once overshadowed by the paintings of her husband, the late James Brooks, Ms. Park has come to prominence in recent years with a series of exhibits held at venues such as the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton and the former Spanierman Gallery in East Hampton and the Spanierman Modern in Manhattan, where critics singled out her paintings of blocky, curving, or linear shapes with vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes as revelatory and worthy of the finest museum collections. Her most recent show at Spanierman closed in November.
The couple met in Washington, DC during World War II, when they both worked at the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, they came back to New York City to continue their careers as artists. They married in 1947. Mr. Brooks died in 1992.
Ms. Park graduated from Yale University with a fine arts degree in 1939 and eventually held a number of teaching positions as she pursued her artwork.
In the 1950s, she showed her work at cooperative galleries and at Peridot, a contemporary gallery that also showed the work of her husband. She was also included in a Whitney Museum of American Art annual show of contemporary artists.
At the Eighth Street Artists' Club, organized by Philip Pavia, the couple met and befriended many of the New York Abstract Expressionists active in the postwar period, including Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, whose studio on Eighth Street the couple took over as studio space after the Pollocks moved to Springs. They would would follow them to the South Fork in 1949, living first in Montauk and eventually in Springs, where they settled full time.
Mr. Brooks lost much of his work in the Montauk studio, which was destroyed by a hurricane. The house that survived was moved to Springs in the mid-1950s by Jeffrey Potter, recalled Cile Downs this week. Ms. Downs, who was a friend of Ms. Park's in Springs, said Mr. Potter was also responsible for moving the large boulder that marks Pollock's grave to Green River Cemetery. She said the couple felt too remote from their friends in Montauk and did not own the land underneath their house, so they moved it. "They were much happier here," Ms. Downs said.
While most will remember her for her paintings, Ms. Downs said that Ms. Park was also "a great lover and admirer of nature. They lived on Neck Path in an untouched wilderness of ten acres of woods." She added that Ms. Park kept a journal every day for two decades, in which she recorded everything she saw on her property. "It's a valuable record I'm trying to track down," she said. "They lived in a place and time where bird life and animal life was very rich."
Ms. Park was born August 13, 1918 in Concord, Massachusetts to George Coolidge and Maybel Hawkes Park. Her father died the same year of pneumonia. Her sole sibling was George Park, who predeceased her. She and Mr. Brooks had no children.
A graveside ceremony is to be held at Green River Cemetery on Monday at 1:00 p.m.
Published in The East Hampton Star on January 7, 2011.
Once overshadowed by the paintings of her husband, the late James Brooks, Ms. Park has come to prominence in recent years with a series of exhibits held at venues such as the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton and the former Spanierman Gallery in East Hampton and the Spanierman Modern in Manhattan, where critics singled out her paintings of blocky, curving, or linear shapes with vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes as revelatory and worthy of the finest museum collections. Her most recent show at Spanierman closed in November.
The couple met in Washington, DC during World War II, when they both worked at the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, they came back to New York City to continue their careers as artists. They married in 1947. Mr. Brooks died in 1992.
Ms. Park graduated from Yale University with a fine arts degree in 1939 and eventually held a number of teaching positions as she pursued her artwork.
In the 1950s, she showed her work at cooperative galleries and at Peridot, a contemporary gallery that also showed the work of her husband. She was also included in a Whitney Museum of American Art annual show of contemporary artists.
At the Eighth Street Artists' Club, organized by Philip Pavia, the couple met and befriended many of the New York Abstract Expressionists active in the postwar period, including Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, whose studio on Eighth Street the couple took over as studio space after the Pollocks moved to Springs. They would would follow them to the South Fork in 1949, living first in Montauk and eventually in Springs, where they settled full time.
Mr. Brooks lost much of his work in the Montauk studio, which was destroyed by a hurricane. The house that survived was moved to Springs in the mid-1950s by Jeffrey Potter, recalled Cile Downs this week. Ms. Downs, who was a friend of Ms. Park's in Springs, said Mr. Potter was also responsible for moving the large boulder that marks Pollock's grave to Green River Cemetery. She said the couple felt too remote from their friends in Montauk and did not own the land underneath their house, so they moved it. "They were much happier here," Ms. Downs said.
While most will remember her for her paintings, Ms. Downs said that Ms. Park was also "a great lover and admirer of nature. They lived on Neck Path in an untouched wilderness of ten acres of woods." She added that Ms. Park kept a journal every day for two decades, in which she recorded everything she saw on her property. "It's a valuable record I'm trying to track down," she said. "They lived in a place and time where bird life and animal life was very rich."
Ms. Park was born August 13, 1918 in Concord, Massachusetts to George Coolidge and Maybel Hawkes Park. Her father died the same year of pneumonia. Her sole sibling was George Park, who predeceased her. She and Mr. Brooks had no children.
A graveside ceremony is to be held at Green River Cemetery on Monday at 1:00 p.m.
Published in The East Hampton Star on January 7, 2011.
Charlotte Park, an abstract expressionist known for the color and light in her painting, died December 26, 2010 at her house in Springs. She had been living with Alzheimer's Disease for several years.
Once overshadowed by the paintings of her husband, the late James Brooks, Ms. Park has come to prominence in recent years with a series of exhibits held at venues such as the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton and the former Spanierman Gallery in East Hampton and the Spanierman Modern in Manhattan, where critics singled out her paintings of blocky, curving, or linear shapes with vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes as revelatory and worthy of the finest museum collections. Her most recent show at Spanierman closed in November.
The couple met in Washington, DC during World War II, when they both worked at the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, they came back to New York City to continue their careers as artists. They married in 1947. Mr. Brooks died in 1992.
Ms. Park graduated from Yale University with a fine arts degree in 1939 and eventually held a number of teaching positions as she pursued her artwork.
In the 1950s, she showed her work at cooperative galleries and at Peridot, a contemporary gallery that also showed the work of her husband. She was also included in a Whitney Museum of American Art annual show of contemporary artists.
At the Eighth Street Artists' Club, organized by Philip Pavia, the couple met and befriended many of the New York Abstract Expressionists active in the postwar period, including Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, whose studio on Eighth Street the couple took over as studio space after the Pollocks moved to Springs. They would would follow them to the South Fork in 1949, living first in Montauk and eventually in Springs, where they settled full time.
Mr. Brooks lost much of his work in the Montauk studio, which was destroyed by a hurricane. The house that survived was moved to Springs in the mid-1950s by Jeffrey Potter, recalled Cile Downs this week. Ms. Downs, who was a friend of Ms. Park's in Springs, said Mr. Potter was also responsible for moving the large boulder that marks Pollock's grave to Green River Cemetery. She said the couple felt too remote from their friends in Montauk and did not own the land underneath their house, so they moved it. "They were much happier here," Ms. Downs said.
While most will remember her for her paintings, Ms. Downs said that Ms. Park was also "a great lover and admirer of nature. They lived on Neck Path in an untouched wilderness of ten acres of woods." She added that Ms. Park kept a journal every day for two decades, in which she recorded everything she saw on her property. "It's a valuable record I'm trying to track down," she said. "They lived in a place and time where bird life and animal life was very rich."
Ms. Park was born August 13, 1918 in Concord, Massachusetts to George Coolidge and Maybel Hawkes Park. Her father died the same year of pneumonia. Her sole sibling was George Park, who predeceased her. She and Mr. Brooks had no children.
A graveside ceremony is to be held at Green River Cemetery on Monday at 1:00 p.m.
Published in The East Hampton Star on January 7, 2011.
Once overshadowed by the paintings of her husband, the late James Brooks, Ms. Park has come to prominence in recent years with a series of exhibits held at venues such as the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton and the former Spanierman Gallery in East Hampton and the Spanierman Modern in Manhattan, where critics singled out her paintings of blocky, curving, or linear shapes with vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes as revelatory and worthy of the finest museum collections. Her most recent show at Spanierman closed in November.
The couple met in Washington, DC during World War II, when they both worked at the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, they came back to New York City to continue their careers as artists. They married in 1947. Mr. Brooks died in 1992.
Ms. Park graduated from Yale University with a fine arts degree in 1939 and eventually held a number of teaching positions as she pursued her artwork.
In the 1950s, she showed her work at cooperative galleries and at Peridot, a contemporary gallery that also showed the work of her husband. She was also included in a Whitney Museum of American Art annual show of contemporary artists.
At the Eighth Street Artists' Club, organized by Philip Pavia, the couple met and befriended many of the New York Abstract Expressionists active in the postwar period, including Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, whose studio on Eighth Street the couple took over as studio space after the Pollocks moved to Springs. They would would follow them to the South Fork in 1949, living first in Montauk and eventually in Springs, where they settled full time.
Mr. Brooks lost much of his work in the Montauk studio, which was destroyed by a hurricane. The house that survived was moved to Springs in the mid-1950s by Jeffrey Potter, recalled Cile Downs this week. Ms. Downs, who was a friend of Ms. Park's in Springs, said Mr. Potter was also responsible for moving the large boulder that marks Pollock's grave to Green River Cemetery. She said the couple felt too remote from their friends in Montauk and did not own the land underneath their house, so they moved it. "They were much happier here," Ms. Downs said.
While most will remember her for her paintings, Ms. Downs said that Ms. Park was also "a great lover and admirer of nature. They lived on Neck Path in an untouched wilderness of ten acres of woods." She added that Ms. Park kept a journal every day for two decades, in which she recorded everything she saw on her property. "It's a valuable record I'm trying to track down," she said. "They lived in a place and time where bird life and animal life was very rich."
Ms. Park was born August 13, 1918 in Concord, Massachusetts to George Coolidge and Maybel Hawkes Park. Her father died the same year of pneumonia. Her sole sibling was George Park, who predeceased her. She and Mr. Brooks had no children.
A graveside ceremony is to be held at Green River Cemetery on Monday at 1:00 p.m.
Published in The East Hampton Star on January 7, 2011.
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