Property of a Connoisseur, London ALEXANDER BROOK (AMERICAN 1898–1980) Portrait of Mrs Charlotte Chrestien (née Kaufmann) aged 22 Signed and dated A. Brook '30 (lower right) Oil on canvas 50.5 x 41cm (20 x 16in) Alexander Brook, an American artist and critic, began painting when recovering from a serious illness as a child. He joined the New York Art Students League in 1915, and was taught primarily by Kenneth Hayes Miller during his four year studies. After leaving the League he married Margaret Frances ‘Peggy’ Bacon, a fellow artist with whom he had two children. Peggy Bacon was an American print maker, illustrator, painter and writer. She was best known for her humorous and ironic etchings and drawings and her satirical caricatures of prominent personalities in the late 1920's and 30's.  She studied under Brook’s tutelage at the Art Students League. Here she met and became friends with Charlotte Kaufmann, mother of the present owner, who was also an artist. Brook painted many family portraits of Charlotte Kaufmann's family. In her diary, Kauffmann records acquiring the portrait of Peggy Bacon on 7th January 1936. At about the same time there is an entry about Alexander Brook concerning his tutelage and criticism of her painting technique.  Brook remarried twice and painted until he retired in 1966. He won many awards throughout his career including the Logan Medal of the Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929.