Brother Brown (painting)

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Brother Brown
Brother Brown - Jones.jpg
Artist Lois Mailou Jones
Year 1931
Medium Watercolor on paper
Dimensions 47 cm× 34.3 cm(19 in× 13.5 in)
Location Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Brother Brown is a painting by Lois Mailou Jones. It is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. in the United States. The painting is an early example of the Jones' regionalism work. [1]

Lois Mailou Jones American artist

Loïs Mailou Jones was an influential artist and teacher during her seven-decade career. Jones was one of the most notable figures to attain notoriety for her art while living as a black expatriate in Paris during the 1930s and 1940s. Her career began in textile design before she decided to focus on fine arts. Jones looked towards Africa and the Caribbean and her experiences in life when painting. As a result, her subjects were some of the first paintings by an African-American artist to extend beyond the realm of portraiture. Jones was influenced by the Harlem Renaissance movement and her countless international trips. Lois Mailou Jones' career was enduring and complex. Her work in designs, paintings, illustrations, and academia made her an exceptional artist that continues to receive national attention and research.

Smithsonian American Art Museum Art museum, Design/Textile Museum, Heritage Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States. The museum has more than 7,000 artists represented in the collection. Most exhibitions take place in the museum's main building, the old Patent Office Building, while craft-focused exhibitions are shown in the Renwick Gallery.

Washington, D.C. Capital of the United States

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C., is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father. As the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, Washington is an important world political capital. The city is also one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million tourists annually.

Contents

Description

This painting depicts an African American man, Brother Brown, sitting on a park bench, smoking a pipe, under a tree. He has a cane on at his side, propped up against the bench. He wears a hat, white button-up shirt, suspenders, brown trousers and dark brown shoes. A large sack sits on the ground by him. "Potatoes" is written on the bag. The man looks at the towards the viewer. [2]

History

This painted was finished by Jones in 1931. It was donated as a bequest of the artist to the Smithsonian. [2]

A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term bequest was used for personal property given by will and deviser for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably.

Reception

Shaun La, contributor to AFROPUNK describes the piece as reflecting a "visual median between Post-Impressionism and Fauvism." [3]

Post-Impressionism predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905

Post-Impressionism is a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. Due to its broad emphasis on abstract qualities or symbolic content, Post-Impressionism encompasses Les Nabis Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cloisonnism, Pont-Aven School, and Synthetism, along with some later Impressionists' work. The movement was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat.

Fauvism artistic style that emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves, a group of early twentieth-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1904 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1905–1908, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were André Derain and Henri Matisse.

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References

  1. ↑ "70-Year Retrospective of Trailblazing African-American Artist Lois Mailou Jones". Urban Mecca. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Brother Brown". Collections. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  3. ↑ La, Shaun. "Feature:Lois Mailou Jones: Inside & Outside of the Harlem Renaissance". AFROPUNK. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
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