Joan Brown facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joan Brown
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Brown in 1975
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| Born |
Joan Vivien Beatty
February 13, 1938 |
| Died | October 26, 1990 (aged 52) Puttaparthi, India
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| 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) Mademoiselle Merit Award (1963) |
Joan Brown (born Joan Vivien Beatty; February 13, 1938 – October 26, 1990) was an American painter. She was known for her unique style of figurative art. Joan lived and worked in Northern California. She was part of a group of artists called the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.
Who Was Joan Brown?
In the late 1950s, Joan Brown became an important artist. She helped make the Bay Area a major center for art. Brown worked with other artists to make figurative painting popular. She also explored ideas from Beat Generation culture and Funk art.
Growing Up and Learning About Art
Joan Brown was born on February 13, 1938, in San Francisco. Her family life was not easy, and she looked forward to growing up and moving out.
She went to Catholic schools in San Francisco. Later, she studied at the California School of Fine Arts. This school is now called the San Francisco Art Institute. She earned her first degree in 1959 and a master's degree in 1960. There, she met her teacher and mentor, Elmer Bischoff. While still a student, she had her first art show in 1958.
In 1956, she married her first husband, Bill Brown. He was also a student and encouraged her to study with Bischoff. Before their wedding, Joan became very sick. Bill gave her books with paintings by famous artists like Rembrandt and Goya. Joan had time to study these books carefully. She later said she felt "a tremendous surge of energy." This inspired her to become a professional painter.
Joan and Bill Brown's marriage ended in 1962. From 1962 to 1966, she was married to Manuel Neri. He was a sculptor from the Bay Area Figurative movement.
Joan Brown's Art Career
Joan Brown became famous for her figurative paintings. They used bright colors, sometimes cartoon-like drawings, and personal symbols. Her first museum show was in New York in 1960. She was only 22 and the youngest artist shown that year.
Early Artistic Style
As a teenager, Joan would sketch celebrities from magazines. In 1956, she took a summer class with Elmer Bischoff. He was her most important teacher. Bischoff told her to follow her heart and not worry about small rules. He helped her learn from her mistakes. This made Joan more serious about finding her own style.
Many of Joan Brown's paintings were about her own life. She loved to dance and swim. She was also very involved in her son's life and her relationships. All these things became part of her art. In 1960, at age 22, she had her first New York City show. It featured her abstract expressionist paintings.
As she got older, her interests changed. Before she passed away, she focused on ancient cultures and spirituality.
In 1960 and 1961, Joan started painting more figurative works. These paintings used strong colors and dramatic light. She used big brush strokes and palette knives to create energy. Sometimes, paint would drip on the canvas. Her paintings, like Portrait of Bob for Bingo (1960), were very personal. They showed important events and objects from her life.
In 1962, Joan had a son named Noel Elmer Neri with her second husband, Manuel Neri. In 1963–1964, her paintings focused on Noel's life. She painted important moments and challenges he faced. Noel’s First Christmas (1963) was special to her. She painted less in 1964 because she was teaching and her marriage to Neri was ending.
In 1965, Joan changed her painting style completely. She felt her old style had become too routine. She started painting more detailed, less spontaneous, black and white works.
Later Artistic Style
In 1968, she married artist Gordon Cook. They respected and inspired each other. Joan started using color in her paintings again. Her new works were for self-reflection. She kept her style figurative, but used more symbols. This was partly because both her parents had recently passed away. She also started including more animals, especially cats, in her art.
In the 1970s, Joan created autobiographical works. These were based on real and imagined events. She was a swimmer and took part in the first women's Golden Gate swim in San Francisco Bay. In 1974, she began teaching art at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1975, she and others almost drowned during a swim to Alcatraz Island. A passing ship caused large waves. Her paintings about this experience included the self-portrait After the Alcatraz Swim #3.
Joan painted many self-portraits. All her paintings were very personal, showing events from her life. Her self-portraits made her art even more personal. She created these series of self-portraits to show her thoughts and feelings. After her near-drowning experience, she painted After the Alcatraz Swim in 1975 to help her cope.
Joan Brown as a Teacher
From 1961 to 1969, Joan taught painting and drawing at the California School of Fine Arts. In 1964, she taught during the summer at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She taught painting to both undergraduate and graduate students.
She also taught at other schools. These included the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She taught at Sacramento State College and Mills College in Oakland. From 1974 to 1990, she was an art professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Her Final Years and Legacy
In the late 1970s, Joan became very interested in spirituality and New Age ideas. She became friends with Sathya Sai Baba. She traveled to his ashram in Puttaparthi, India many times. She later stopped painting as much and focused on public sculptures. Her new works were influenced by Egyptian and Hindu art. She traveled around the world, creating art based on her experiences.
In 1990, Joan traveled to India to help install one of her large sculptures. On October 26, 1990, she died in Puttaparthi, India. A concrete part of the building collapsed while she was installing a mosaic sculpture. Two other people also died in the accident. At the time of her death, Joan was married to Mike Hebel.
Joan Brown's Lasting Impact
Joan Brown's art was shown in the 2022 exhibition Women Painting Women. This was at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The SFMOMA museum has twenty-five of her artworks. In November 2022, SFMOMA honored her with a major show. This show included about eighty of her paintings and sculptures. It was the first large show of her work in over twenty years.
Sources
- Marika Herskovic, Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style is Timely Art is Timeless (New York School Press, 2009.) ISBN: 0-9677994-2-2. pp. 56–59
- Tsujimoto K, Baas J. (1998). The Art of Joan Brown. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 3. ISBN: 0-520-21468-4 (hardbound), ISBN: 0-520-21469-2 (paperback)
