With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Robert Brackman
Education/Curation, Painting/Drawing
1898 – 1980
As a figurative painter throughout his long career, Brackman falls into the Regionalist group of 20th-century painters. He painted under the WPA program, and subsequently taught painting for many decades in New York City, Noank in the summers, and numerous other schools.
- Biography/Description of Work
Robert Brackman was born in Odessa, now in the Ukraine, and immigrated to the US in 1908. He had a long career as a teacher and portraitist, also painting still lifes and other genres. He taught at the Art Students League of New York where he was a life member, and at the American Art School in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum School, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and the Madison Art School in Connecticut. In 1932, Brackman was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1940. He spent summers in the Noank art colony in Groton, where he lived at several locations over the years. In 1926, he had a studio at 100 Brook Street (in the former 6th District schoolhouse) and ran a summer art school on Riverview Avenue. He lived, painted and taught at the Smith Street property from the 1940s onward.
- Sources view
- Archives, Noank Historical Society.
- Associated Resource(s)