Charles Philip Brooks

Painter and Printmaker b. 1978

Landscapes in the American Barbizon Tradition



Biographical Summary

Charles Philip Brooks, born in North Carolina, studied in New England in the studio of highly respected Boston School authority Paul Ingbretson and with the renowned American Barbizon painter Dennis Sheehan. He is primarily a landscape painter, focusing on the landscape of the southeastern United States. His work incorporates elements of impressionism and is firmly rooted in the American Barbizon / Tonalist tradition of landscape painting. He works out of the tradition established by such artists as George Inness, Alexander Wyant, Bruce Crane, John Francis Murphy, Dwight William Tryon, and North Carolina’s own Elliott Daingerfield. Further influences include the painters Eugene Boudin and Charles –Francois Daubigny, as well as the many other masters of the French Barbizon School.

Statement on Painting

The tradition of Tonalist painting is one of intimate and nuance-filled art. The aim of my predecessors has been to reach ever-heightening subtleties of form through the poetic rendering of nature. In this spirit, my work is a continuation of a century-old tradition of American landscape painting. Many of my paintings reflect humble subjects, which I return to often and work from with great care. My interest lies in landscapes that remain largely untouched by modern development, but instead preserve the quiet aspects of the natural world. I paint the landscape of North Carolina because it is natural for a painter of landscapes to admire familiar places and to make them the foundation of his work.


Teaching Experience

Charles Philip Brooks teaches painting students privately in North Carolina and Virginia. He has conducted workshops and demonstrations through several notable institutions, including the Imperial Centre in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the Surry Arts Council in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina. … Read More

Studied with Dennis Sheehan b. 1950 and Paul Ingbretson b. 1949 in New Hampshire