'Algerian Street, 1938' by Frank a Brown, American Orientalist, Académie Julian, Paris, National Academy of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art

Description

Signed lower left, 'Frank A. Brown' for Frank Arthur Brown (American, 1876-1962) and dated 1938. Titled, verso, on stretcher bar, … more Signed lower left, 'Frank A. Brown' for Frank Arthur Brown (American, 1876-1962) and dated 1938. Titled, verso, on stretcher bar, 'Algerian Street', additionally signed, 'Frank A Brown - Paris' and with artist's New York label.

An early twentieth-century oil painting of a bustling sun-lit street in an Algerian town with various figures including a man riding a donkey in the foreground and a view towards the copper-covered dome of a mosque in the distance. A large and vibrant work by this well-listed American Orientalist.

Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Frank Brown first studied at the Copley Society and at the Boston School of Painting before moving to Paris, in 1911, to attend the Académie Julian. He subsequently traveled and painted widely in Algeria, Spain, Morocco, Cuba, Canada and Labrador as well as Tunisia. Brown maintained studios in both Paris, on Ville Brune in the 14th arrondissement, and on New York's Fifth Avenue.

Over the course of a long career, Brown exhibited widely and with success including at the Society of Independent Artists (1918), the National Academy of Design (1926), Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (1925), the Art Institute of Chicago (1923, 1925-1930), the American Watercolor Society (1926-1946) and, in Paris, at the Salon des Artistes Francais (1922-1930) and the Galerie George Petit. He was also the only American invited to exhibit at the 1931 Colonial Exposition in Paris. Frank Brown's work is held in private and public collections internationally including in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pasadena Art Institute, the Luxembourg Museum (Paris) and the French National Museum (Paris). Brown was a member of La Société Coloniale des Artistes Français, the La Société d'Aquarellistes Français, the American Watercolor Society and the Salmagundi Club.

Reference:
Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 1, page 463-464; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 2, page 856; Vollmer Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des 20. Jarhhunderts, Hans Vollmer, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 1, page 327; Mallett’s Index of Artists, Daniel Trowbridge Mallett, Peter Smith: New York 1948 Edition, R.R. Bowker Company 1935, page 55; The Society of Independent Artists: The Exhibition Record 1917-1944, Clark S. Marlor, Noyes Press 1984, page 156; Dictionnaire Biographique des Artistes Contemporains, 1910-1934, Edouard-Joseph, Paris Art & Edition 1930-1934, Vol. 1, page 213; Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Glen B. Opitz, Apollo Press 1983, page 113; et al. less