John George Brown

For the environmentalist, see Kootenay Brown.

John George Brown (November 11, 1831 – February 8, 1913), British and American painter, was born in Durham, England, on 11 November 1831. He studied at Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the Edinburgh Academy. His parents apprenticed him to a glass worker at the age of fourteen, in an attempt to dissuade him from pursuing painting.^[1] After moving to New York City in 1853, he studied with Thomas Seir Cummings at the National Academy of Design, where he was a National Academician from 1861-1863. He was the Academy's vice-president from 1899 to 1904.^[2] Around 1855 he married the daughter of his employer, the owner of a Brooklyn glass company. His father-in-law continued to encourage his artistic abilities, supporting him financially so Brown could paint full time. ^[1] In 1866 he became one of the charter members of the Water-Color Society, of which he was president from 1887 to 1904. Brown became famous for his depictions of street urchins he found on the streets of New York, like bootblacks, street musicians, posy sellers, newsboys, etc.^[3] His Passing Show (Paris, Salon, 1877) and Street Boys at Play (Paris Exhibition, 1900) are good examples of his popular talent. Brown's art is best characterized as British genre paintings adapted to American subjects. Essentially literary, it is executed with precise detail, but is poor in color, and more popular with the general public than with connoisseurs.

Quotes

Wishing to more faithfully capture his subjects as they appear in real life, Brown once said, "They will change their dress, as though to show the extent of their wardrobe. Being cautioned expressly on Saturday, and told to return in the same fustian jacket, your boy will appear on Monday morning, if he appears at all, in a red woolen shirt. And they are constantly having their hair trimmed--perfect dandies!"^[3]
Brown was trying to capture the spirit of the street children as people who "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." ^[3]
Many years later, Brown claimed that most of the street children he painted had grown to become successful businessmen.^[3]
Brown claimed to never forget his poor beginnings, saying "I do not paint poor boys solely because the public likes such pictures and pays me for them, but because I love the boys myself, for I, too, was once a poor lad like them."^[1]

External links

John George Brown at MuseumSyndicate

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Birmingham Museum of Art (1993). Masterpieces East and West: from the Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art. Birmingham, Alabama. pp. 202. ISBN 0931394376. http://www.birminghammuseumstore.org/masterpieces-east-amp-west-from-the-birmingham-museum-of-art.html. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
^ National Academy Museum and School (2010). "National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts". National Academy. http://www.nationalacademy.org/index.asp. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Birmingham Museum of Art (2010). Birmingham Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection. London: Giles. pp. 129. ISBN 9781904832775. http://www.birminghammuseumstore.org/bmapu.html. Retrieved 2011-06-24.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.

Persondata
Name	Brown, John George
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 11, 1831
Place of birth
Date of death	February 8, 1913
Place of death