Peter Brook (painter)  Peter Brook (1927—2009) was an English painter best known for his landscape paintings and depictions of British life. Peter Brook was born in Scholes, Holme Valley, West Yorkshire to farmer parents. He was educated at Goldsmith's College where he studied to become a teacher while he attended evening drawing classes and visited art galleries. He returned to West Yorkshire where he worked as a teacher, first at Rastrick and then Sowerby. He married his wife Molly in 1950. Brook painted rural landscapes, farmhouses and scenes from different facets of British life. He visited many European countries to paint, but held the Pennines as his favourite subject. His style was influenced by Edgar Degas and labeled by himself as anti-academic. He was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1962.