THEOPHILUS BROWN

At 90, Still in the Studio

By ANTHONY TORRES

His promise was apparent early.

When William Theophilus Brown was 11, his father submitted a portrait his son had drawn to a regional art contest juried by Grant Wood, the iconic Midwestern artist whose American Gothic is one of the nation’s best-known paintings. Brown was selected for a third place award, which Grant Wood himself presented.

“He was amazed to see this kid walking up the aisle,” Brown says, “I remember him leaning and reaching down from the stage, and me reaching up to receive the prize, and we shook hands. It was a really great moment in my life.”

In 1952 he headed for the West Coast and began graduate study in painting at the University of California in Berkeley. He soon met the young painter Paul Wonner, who would become his life partner. “I’d never been to California before,” he says. “I arrived in Berkeley on the train. On the third day I met Paul.”

They fell in with Richard Diebenkorn, whose paintings were already drawing considerable attention. Along with Elmer Bischoff and James Weeks, they began to experiment and extend David Park’s re-introduction of the human figure into their paintings. At a time dominated by abstract painting, Brown and these other artists combined abstract and figurative painting, evolving into what became known as the Bay Area Figurative Movement.

“Getting to know those people had a huge influence on me,” Brown says. “I didn’t get much out of the art department at Berkeley. But Paul and I got a studio downtown in Berkeley. One day there was a knock on the door. ‘I’m freezing my butt off. How’re you doing in here?’ That’s how we met Dick Diebenkorn.”

What developed was a complex and diverse range of artistic practices united by the re-introduction of figurative subject matter — landscape, still life, portraiture and nudes — with Abstract Expressionism’s formal concerns and vigorous handling of paint. Exploring the tension between abstraction and figuration opened a range of new possibilities, apparent in the diversity of these artists and the subjects and techniques they pursued.

“One day I was with David Park and Dick Diebenkorn,” Brown recalls. “When I first met Diebenkorn, he was doing non-objective abstract paintings. David said to Dick, ‘I’ll bet you can’t paint a portrait.’ And that’s when Dick painted his first portrait.” In 1956, Brown gained national attention when three of his paintings of football players, with abstracted images of bodies in motion, appeared in a spread in Life magazine. The work caught the attention of Los Angeles gallery owner Felix Landauer, who began to exhibit Brown’s work. In 1957 his work was included in the landmark Bay Area Figurative Painting exhibition at the Oakland Museum. He was set on a lifelong path as a serious artist whose paintings are widely admired and collected.

Now, at 90, Brown’s mind and wit remain razor sharp. He continues to be a fully committed practicing artist and is involved in a range of artistic activities, including three museum and gallery exhibitions last year. “I paint three or four hours every day,” he says. “I like to work. I think it’s the secret to staying alive and interesting and as vital as you can be.” He also participates in weekly group drawing sessions with a model and sits in with the San Francisco Collage Collective. As he has throughout his life, he plays classical piano with considerable skill, often accompanied by a violinist.

Theophilus Brown, an artistic giant, is pursuing his work the same as always, with dedication, focus and inspirational fortitude. He shows no sign of slowing.

— excerpted from Theophilus Brown: Nudes, by Anthony Torres, published by the Thomas Reynolds Gallery.


PORTFOLIO of paintings and drawings

Theophilus Brown's work appears in this special exhibition courtesy of Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery.