Joan Brown
| Joan Brown | |
|---|---|
Brown in 1975
|
|
| Born |
Joan Vivien Beatty February 13, 1938 San Francisco, California |
| Died | October 26, 1990 (aged 52) Puttaparthi, India |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | California School of Fine Arts (1955-60) (BFA, 1959; MFA, 1960) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Bay Area Figurative Movement |
| Awards |
James D. Phelan Award (1962) |
James D. Phelan Award (1962)
Mademoiselle Merit Award (1963)
Louis Comfort Tiffany Award (1965)
Adaline Kent Award, San Francisco Art Institute (1973)
National Endowment for the Arts Grant (1976, 1980)
Guggenheim Fellowship (1977)
Joan Brown (February 13, 1938 – October 26, 1990) was an American figurative painter who lived and worked in Northern California. She was a member of the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.
In the late 1950s, Joan Brown was a maturing artist who helped make California, and the Bay Area in particular, an important artistic center. Brown worked with multiple other artists to make popular the concepts of figurative painting, beat culture, and funk art.
Joan Brown was born on February 19, 1938, in San Francisco to a second-generation Irish father and a native Californian mother. Brown’s family life was very unhappy. Her father drank heavily and her mother, who had intended to have a career instead of a family, frequently threatened suicide. Brown could not wait to grow up and move out.
Growing up, Brown acquired her education through Catholic Schools in San Francisco—first St. Vincent de Paul School and then Presentation High School—which engendered in her a revulsion toward Catholic education and religion. She studied at the California School of Fine Art (now San Francisco Art Institute), graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1959 and a Master of Arts in 1960. There she met her instructor and mentor Elmer Bischoff. While still a student she had her first solo gallery exhibition in 1958.
In 1956 she married her first husband, Bill Brown. However, right before their wedding, she became very ill. Bill Brown presented her with books that contained reproductions of paintings by Rembrandt, Francisco Goya, Diego Velázquez, and other masters. Due to her illness, Brown had time to study the books carefully. She later stated, "I'd never seen any of this stuff, and I felt this tremendous surge of energy". She was inspired to want to follow their example, and she realized that painting professionally was what she was meant to do.
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