Self-Portrait+by+Romaine+Brooks

Date: 1923
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/1966/1966.49.1_1a.jpg&max=460 width="214" height="358" link="@http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=2916"]] || Title: **Self-Portrait**

Artist: **Romaine Brooks** Born: Rome, Italy 1874 Died: Nice, France 1970

Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 46 1/4 x 26 7/8 (117.5 x 68.3 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the artist

Accession: 1966.49.1 || In this painting, Romaine Brooks portrayed herself in the dark colors of a man's outfit, her eyes veiled under the shadow of her hat brim. Brooks lived most of her life in Paris, where she crafted an androgynous appearance that challenged conventional ideas of how women should look and behave. The shadowed face in this portrait suggests that her true self is hidden behind a carefully constructed facade. The tiny flash of red on Brooks's lapel represents the ribbon of the Legion of Honor she received for her artistic achievements, but it might also hint at the secret passions of her personal life.
 * About the Artwork: **

Brooks was a gifted artist, who challenged the typical views of female roles in society. She was a lesbian. Brooks had a very unhappy childhood that was haunted by the instability of her brother and the eccentricities of her mother. Independently wealthy, her large fortune allowed her personal and professional freedom. She was part of the Anglo-American gay community on the Isle of Capri, Italy where she was a noted hostess. She had a three year relationship with Ida Rubenstein and a lifelong relationship with Natalie Barney, the daughter of Alice Pike Barney. Her self-portrait, in shades of grey, black and white, shows the daring 20th-century woman no longer in the shadow of men. In her self-portrait, Brooks wears a Chevalier Legion of Honor badge awarded for civilian war contributions. Although many of her peers were creating abstract art, she held to a representational style that explores female identity. She was particularly intrigued with the role that appearances (clothes and manners) played in sexual identity.
 * About the Artist: **

Women Artists 
 * Resources: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Artist Biography from the Luce Center <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">About the Artist <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">SAAM Collections Page
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Links: **