JOHN GEORGE BROWN (American 1831-1913)

Description

JOHN GEORGE BROWN (American 1831-1913)
Cowgirl
Oil on canvas
30.25in. x 25.25in. (sight size)
Signed lower left: copyright/ J.G. Brown N.A.
Literature: A History of Animal and Sporting Art in America, 1750 - 1950

John George Brown was one of the most successful genre painters of the second half of the 19th century. His paintings of country and city children were enthusiastically collected during his lifetime, and by the time he died in 1913, he was a very wealthy man. A methodical and conscientious worker, Brown's total oeuvre numbers more than a thousand paintings.

Brown was born near Durham, England on November 11, 1831. While serving an apprenticeship to a glass worker in Newcastle-on-Tyne, he took evening drawing classes with William Bell Scott, an artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. After further study in Edinburgh and London, Brown immigrated to the United States in 1853, settling in Brooklyn, where he found work in a glass factory. He continued his artistic studies at the Graham Art School in Brooklyn, then, in 1857, Brown enrolled in the National Academy of Design, taking antique and life classes taught by Thomas Seir Cummings (1804-1894). Wasting no time, Brown launched his long and impressive exhibition schedule when he sent two paintings to the National Academy of Design annual exhibition of 1858. In addition to making this move from Brooklyn into the Manhattan art world, Brown increased his involvement in the Brooklyn art community, becoming a founding member in 1859 of the Brooklyn Art Social, and two years later, becoming a member of the Brooklyn Art Association.

One of the most important connections Brown made during these years was his friendship with the collector Samuel P. Avery. Avery began to purchase Brown's work in 1858, introduced him to New York artists, and made it possible for him to take a studio in the prestigious Tenth Street Studio Building in 1860. Brown was elected an Associate of the National Academy in 1861, and a full Academician in 1863. He was extremely active in a number of artist organizations over the years, serving as vice-president of the Academy from 1899 to 1903, and as president of the American Watercolor Society from 1887 to 1907. Brown's works are found in numerous museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; as well as many important private collections.

Condition: canvas relined on original stretcher, some restored frame rub on left, right and bottom edge. Minor areas on inpaint above cow's head, otherwise good condition.

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