Benjamin Chambers Brown (1865-1942)
Born: Marion, Arkansas 1865 Died: Pasadena, California 1942
This is the colorist who started us off on a journey that may never end.
Benjamin C. Brown was born in Marion, Arkansas in 1865. He received his initial training at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts under Paul E. Harvey and John Fry. Trained in photography, Brown made his first trip west in 1885. He photographed and sketched in and around Los Angeles. Brown then spent some time in Texas before returning to St. Louis where he continued his studies. He opened his own art school in Little Rock, Arkansas specializing in portrait painting. In 1890 Brown traveled to Paris, France, with his friends William A. Griffith and Edmund H. Wuerpel. He studied for a year at the Academie Julian under Benjamin Constant and Jean Paul Laurens.
Returning to St. Louis he struggled to build a following for his still-lifes until he and his brother Howell, with their mother, moved to Pasadena, California, in 1896. For several years he worked as a portrait painter while teaching and hand tinting photographs. There were few patrons for his portrait work so he turned to painting the landscape. His first exhibition and sale at the Hotel Green in Pasadena, California was quite successful, enabling him to travel to Europe again.
Benjamin C. Brown was known as “The Dean of Pasadena Painters”. For almost fifty years he was a leader of Pasadena’s artistic and intellectual community. A gentle soul and lifelong bachelor, Brown and his brother, Howell, lived with their mother until her death. The Brown brothers were founders of the California Society of Printmakers. Brown was charter member of the Pasadena Society of Artists.
Brown was a tall, gaunt man with an eccentric personality. His home was the site of artistic discussions and a salon for Pasadena intellectuals. Both he and his brother maintained a long friendship with Eva Scott Fenyes, the amateur watercolorist and one of Pasadena’s most important patron of the arts.
Benjamin and his brother, Howell, made extended trips to Europe and North Africa where they painted and sketched. In California, he painted frequently along the coast, in Yosemite and the high Sierras. He also traveled east to the desert near Palm Springs, California. He continued to paint and make prints through the years of the Great Depression and died in Pasadena in 1942.
Among the awards received by the artist were a bronze medal for etching, Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, San Francisco 1915; bronze medal, Portland World’s Fair, 1905; and a silver medal, Seattle World’s Fair, 1909.
Information excerpted from California Art Club, est. 1909, 91st Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition Catalog, May 6 -July 29, 2001, Jeffrey Morseburg, Author of Historic Artists’ Biographies, Edited by Elaine Adams; Pasadena Historical Museum, Pasadena, California, Copyright 2001 and from “Early Artists in Laguna Beach, The Impressionists” By Janet Blake Dominik, Exhibit Catalog, September 23 - November 5, 1986 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, Copyright 1986
“The Joyous Garden”, Joan Irvine Smith Fine Arts, Inc. ; Image from “California Art, 450 Years of Painting and Other Media” By Nancy Dustin Wall Moure, Copyright 1998, Dustin Publications, Los Angeles, California “Table Mountain, Falling Leaf Lake” Private Collection; from California Art Club, est. 1909, 91st Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition Catalog, May 6 -July 29, 2001, Edited by Elaine Adams; Pasadena Historical Museum, Pasadena, California, Copyright 2001 “Sierra Hillside” Private collection; image from “Early Artists in Laguna Beach, The Impressionists” By Janet Blake Dominik, Exhibit Catalog, September 23 - November 5, 1986 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, Copyright 1986
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Benjamin Chambers Brown exhibited in the British Art Museum, Congressional Library, and the Smithsonian Institute.
3rd CAC President, 1915 - 1916
A painter, lithographer and etcher. Born in Marion, Arkansas on July 14, 1865. Early in life Brown was trained as a photographer and in his late teens studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts under Paul Harney and John Fry. He later studied in Paris at the Academie Julian under Laurens and Benjamin-Constant. During his early career he moved about and was active in St. Louis, Little Rock, and Texas. Earlier he specialized in portraiture and still lifes; however, upon moving to Pasadena in 1896, he turned his attention to the local landscape. His first etchings were done in 1914 and, with his brother Howell, he cofounded the Printmakers of Los Angeles which later became the California Society of Printmakers. Brown died in Pasadena on January 19, 1942. Today he is nationally known for his Impressionist landscapes of the snow-capped Sierra peaks and fields of poppies. ~ Edan Milton Hughes, Artists in California 1786 - 1940 Member: American Federation of Arts California Art Club (President, 1915-1916) Chicago Society of Etchers Laguna Beach Art Association Printmakers of Los Angeles (California Society of Printmakers)
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Benjamin C. Brown Landscape painter, lithographer, etcher. Born in Marion, AR on July 14, 1865. Early in life Brown was trained as a photographer and in his late teens studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts under Paul Harney and John Fry. He later studied in Paris at Academie Julian under Laurens and Benjamin-Constant. During the early years of his career he moved about and was active in St. Louis, Little Rock and Texas. Earlier he specialized in portraiture and still lifes; however, upon moving to Pasadena in 1896, he turned his attention to the local landscape. His first etchings were done in 1914 and with his brother, Howell, he cofounded the Printmakers of Los Angeles which later became the California Society of Printmakers. Today he is nationally known for his Impressionist landscapes of the snow-capped Sierra peaks and fields poppies.
Member: Pasadena Society of Artists; California Art Club; Chicago Society of Etchers; American Federation of the Arts, Laguna Beach Art Association.
Exhibited: Del Monte Art Gallery before 1914; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (solos in 1915, 1917, 1918 and group show in 1929); Oakland Art Gallery, 1932.
Selected Awards: bronze medal, Portland Expo, 1905; silver medal, Seattle Expo, 1909; bronze medal (etching), Panama Pacific International Exposition, 1915; silver and gold medals, Panama-California Expo, San Diego, 1915; many at Los Angeles County and State fairs.
Works Held: Oakland Museum; British Museum; Smithsonian Institute; Library of Congress; Los Angeles Municipal Art Collection; Montclair, NJ, Museum; Little Rock, AR, Museum; Cleveland Museum; California State Library, Sacramento, CA; Boise, Idaho Public Library; Southwest Museum, Los Angeles; Helens, AR, Public Library; Pasadena Public Library; Museum of New Mexico; The Fleitscher Museum, Scottsdale, AZ; The Irvine Museum, Irvine, CA.
(Source: Hughes, Edan Milton, "Artists in California: 1786-1940," San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.) |
