BENJAMIN CHAMBERS BROWN (1865 - 1942)         Artist Images

 
Born in Marion, Arkansas, Benjamin Brown was nationally known for his Impressionist landscapes of the snow-capped Sierra peaks and fields of poppies. His primary mediums were oil, lithography and etching, although he also did watercolor painting throughout his career.

Brown was educated at the University of Tennessee and at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts with Paul Harney and John Fry. His early interest was photography. In 1890, accompanied by friend William Griffith, he went to Paris for a year of study with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant at the Academy Julian.

Returning to the United States, he lived in St. Louis, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Texas. His early specialties were portraiture and still lifes, but moving to Pasadena in 1896, he turned to local landscape and also painted the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert in Arizona.

In 1914, he began doing etchings, and with his brother, Howell, co-founded the Printmakers of Los Angeles, later known as the California Society of Printmakers.

He died in Pasadena in 1942.

Member: Pasadena Society of Artists; California Art Club; Chicago Society of Etchers; American Federation of Arts; Laguna Beach Art Association

Exhibited: California State Fair, 1899; Lewis & Clark Expo (Portland), 1905 (medal); Blanchard Gallery (LA), 1906, 1908; Bentz Gallery (Pasadena), 1907, 1909; Steckel Gallery (LA), 1908; Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (silver medal); Hotel Green (Pasadena), 1911; Del Monte Art Gallery, 1912; Friday Morning Club (LA), 1915; PPIE, 1915 (bronze medal); Panama-Calif. Expo (San Diego), 1915 (silver & gold medals); LA County Fairs (awards); LACMA, 1915, 1917, 1918 (solos), 1929; SFAA, 1916; Oakland Art Gallery, 1932.

In: CSL; Smithsonian Inst.; Boise (ID) Public Library; Library of Congress; British Museum; LA Municipal Art Collection; Montclair (NJ) Museum; Little Rock Museum; Cleveland Museum; Southwest Museum (LA); Helens (AR) Public Library; Pasadena Public Library; Oakland Museum; Museum of NM; Irvine (CA) Museum; Fleischer Museum (Scottsdale); Orange Co. (CA) Museum.

Source: Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940