Brother Brown (painting) explained

Brother Brown
Artist:	Lois Mailou Jones
Year:	1931
Medium:	Watercolor on paper
Height Metric:	47
Width Metric:	34.3
City:	Washington, D.C.
Museum:	Smithsonian American Art Museum

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]

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]

Reception

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: 70-Year Retrospective of Trailblazing African-American Artist Lois Mailou Jones. Urban Mecca. 10 February 2017.
2. Web site: Brother Brown. Collections. Smithsonian American Art Museum. 10 February 2017.
3. Web site: La. Shaun. Feature:Lois Mailou Jones: Inside & Outside of the Harlem Renaissance. AFROPUNK. 10 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155647/http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/feature-lo-s-mailou-jones-inside-outside-of-the-harlem?xg_source=activity. 11 February 2017. dead.