Joan Brown: Selected Drawings, 1957-1987

Starting Thursday, September 15th the GEORGE ADAMS GALLERY will present an exhibition of 38 drawings by JOAN BROWN (1938 – 1990) that emphasizes the candid aspect of her work. The earliest drawing in the show dates from 1957 when Brown was still a student at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute), and the latest, a pencil portrait of her cat Leela, was made in 1987, shortly before her death at age 52.

Throughout her career Joan Brown’s immediate surroundings and intimate experiences were the core subject matter of her work, the focus of this exhibition is appropriately on the drawings depicting her city, her home, her friends, husbands, son, and pets. These drawings provide an inside look at an artist more interested in observation than in consciously making “art.” Life as Brown records it amounts to an accumulation of casual moments: a cat sitting by the new car, the view out the studio window, or private moments that resonate such as recollections of a dream, a moment of spiritual awakening, or contemplating her pregnancy.

From the beginning of her short (1958 – 1990) but distinguished career, Brown made a significant impact in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she exhibited regularly starting in 1956 while still in Art School. She was the subject of two career surveys organized by the Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley (1974 and 1995), where she also taught for many years and eventually chaired the Art Department. Throughout her career Brown also had regular gallery exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles, and by institutions throughout the United States, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York which both acquired works as early as 1962.

Exhibition Checklist

1.
Shoe
1967
Graphite on paper
9 ½ x 7¾ inches
JBRd 97

2.
Studies of Noel
1962
Ballpoint pen on paper
8 ¾ x 5 ¾ inches
JBRd 94

3.
Self Portrait #2
1983
Pastel on paper
36 x 24 inches
JBRd 05

4.
Ruby + Noel
1965
Collage and graphite on paper
20 ½ x 24 ½ inches
JBRd 108

5.
TV Tower Seen from Upstairs Studio
1975
Oil pastel on paper
18 x 24 inches
JBRd 104

6.
Snow in San Francisco
1976
Acrylic, oil, ink on paper
18 x 24 inches
JBRd 106

7.
Mount Davidson Seen from Upstairs Studio
1975
Oil pastel on paper
18 x 24 inches
JBRd 103

8.
Noel, Forrest + Sabrina in Upstairs Room
1976
Graphite, charcoal, acrylic, oil pastel on paper
24 x 34 inches (sight)
JBRd 107

9.
Kitchen
1971
Gouache on papyrus
12 x 9 inches (sight)
JBRp 101

10.
The First Car
1971
Tempera and graphite on paper
9 x 12 inches (sight)
JBRd 100

11.
Joan Brown (Two Dogs)
1964
Enamel on paper
39 x 29 inches
JBRd 51

12.
The Adolescent Cat #2
1983
Litho crayon on paper
28 ½ x 22 inches
JBRd 06

13.
Bob the Dog
1961
Collage, tempera, paper
27 ¼  x 50 inches
JBRd 131

14.
Silver Wolf
1968
Graphite, ink on paper
8 x 4 ¾ inches
JBRd 74

15.
Silver Wolf #2
1968
Graphite, ink on paper
8 x 4 ¾ inches
JBRd 75

16.
Donald + Leela
1983
Conte crayon on paper
40 x 30 inches
JBRd 81

17.
AC + Momma Cat And Her Kittens
1983
Charcoal, graphite, wash on rice paper
26 ½ x 24 inches (sight)
JBRd 80

18.
Bill Brown with Model
1973
Graphite, ink on paper
36 x 24 inches
JBRd 88

19.
Woman By Tree
1957
Graphite on paper
10 ¼  x 7 ½ inches (sight)
JBRd 83

20.
Manuel Smoking
1959
Graphite on paper
9 ½ x 7 ½ inches
JBRd 86

21.
Gordon, Model and View
1973
Graphite, ink, acrylic on paper
36 x 24 inches
JBRd 89

22.
The Dream
1985
Pencil, ink wash, acrylic on rice paper
26 x 37 ¾ inches
JBRp 74

23.
Skeleton + Embryo
1962
Graphite on paper
25 ½ x 39 ¾ inches
JBRd 116

24.
Rat Dream #3
1959
Ink on paper
7 ¾ x 10 inches
JBRd 111

25.
Rat Dream #2
1959
Ink on paper
10 x 8 inches
JBRd 110

26.
Rat Dream #1
1959
Ink on paper
7 ¾ x 10 inches
JBRd 109

27.
Intruders
1975
Graphite, oil pastel, graphite on paper
24 x 36 inches
JBRd 119

28.
The Party
1975
Graphite, oil pastel, graphite on paper
24 x 36 inches
JBRd 121

29.
The Opening
1975
Graphite, oil pastel, graphite on paper
24 x 36 inches
JBRd 120

30.
Rats Laughing at Manuel's Sculpture
1960
Graphite on paper
10 x 7¾ inches
JBRd 115

31.
Rat Laughing at Manuel's Sculpture
1960
Graphite on paper
10 x 7¾ inches
JBRd 114

32.
Rat Laughing at Manuel's Sculpture
1960
Graphite on paper
10 x 7¾ inches
JBRd 113

33.
Golden Gate Bridge
1987
Woodcut, Lithograph
36¼ x 26¼ inches (framed)
JBRr 01

34.
Woman with Lavender Rose
1977
Oil, enamel, lined (framed)
42 x 42 inches
JBRp 75