Francis Focer Brown (January 19, 1891 – April 14, 1971) was an American Impressionist painter, as well as professor and head of the Fine Arts Department at Ball State Teachers College (present-day Ball State University) in Muncie, Indiana from 1925 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1957, and was director of the Ball State Art Gallery until 1946. He exhibited his work at the

Hoosier Salon The Hoosier Salon is an annual juried art exhibition that features the work of Indiana artists and provides them with an outlet to market their work. The Hoosier Salon Patron's Association, the nonprofit arts organization that organizes the event, ...

shows between 1922 and 1964, winning several awards for his oils, pastels, and watercolors between 1925 and 1945. He also won prizes for works he exhibited at the John Herron Art Institute and the

Richmond Art Museum The Richmond Art Museum was founded in 1898 as the Art Association of Richmond, Indiana. Artist John Elwood Bundy and author and attorney William Dudley Foulke were instrumental in the founding. Permanent collection Its collection includes imp ...

in 1922. In addition, he exhibited his work at the

Herron School of Art Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

Museum, Ball State University, Indiana Art Club shows, and the

Indiana State Fair The Indiana State Fair is an annual state fair that spans 18 days in July and August in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. The Indiana State Fair debuted in 1852 at Military Park in Indianapolis and is the sixth oldest state fair in the U.S. It is th ...

, as well as exhibitions at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

in 1922 and 1923, and Cincinnati Museum of Art between 1922 and 1925. Brown studied with

Hoosier Group The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists considered members of the Group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis Adams, and Otto Stark. To ...

painter J. Ottis Adams while still a high school student before enrolling at the

John Herron Art Institute Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

, where he studied under Hoosier Group painter William Forsyth. Brown also studied at Ball State, and earned a master of arts degree from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Brown was a member Indiana Art Club and the Hoosier Salon. His work is held in collections at John Herron Art Institute (present-day

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...

), Ball State University, the Richmond (Indiana) Art Museum, and in various schools and libraries throughout Indiana.

Early life and education

Francis Focer Brown was born in

Glassboro, New Jersey Glassboro is a borough in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 18,579,Muncie, Indiana, where he attended school. Brown's talent in art was apparent at an early age. He began formal art training with private art instruction from

painter J. Ottis Adams at The Hermitage (Adams's home in

Brookville, Indiana Brookville is a town in Brookville Township, Franklin County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,596 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of and the largest community entirely within Franklin County. History Brookville was ...

) The course that Adams offered lasted only seven weeks, so Brown rented a room to be near Adams, whom he described in later years as "a wonderfully kind and inspiring teacher" After high school, Brown enrolled at the

, where he studied under Hoosier Group painter William Forsyth, and graduated from Herron in 1916. Brown also studied at

Earlham College Earlham College is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social ...

in Richmond, Indiana, Ball State University, and later earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

degree from

. In addition to Adams and Forsyth, James R. Hopkins was another of Brown's instructors.

Marriage and family

While a student at the Herron Art Institute in 1915, Brown met Beulah Hazelrigg. They married on January 4, 1916, about three months after they first met. Hazelrigg (1892–1987), an Indiana native, taught school for two years at Oolitic, Indiana, and graduated from

Cincinnati Conservatory of Music The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, wh ...

in 1913 before enrolling at the Herron Art Institute on scholarship in the fall of 1915. Brown and Hazelrigg were students of William Forsyth, who felt that art students should make art their priority and remain single. Ignoring their art teacher's advice, they married while they were still students. The Browns spent the remainder of their lives together as artists and educators. They also had two sons: Hillis Alvin (1919–1983) and Folger Wescott (1922–??). During the Great Depression, Brown's widowed mother-in-law moved in with the family to help with the housekeeping and childcare, so that he and his wife could pursue their careers.

Career

After graduating from the John Herron Art Institute in 1916, Brown taught at

Wingate Wingate may refer to: Places New Zealand * Wingate, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt United Kingdom * Wingate, County Durham * Wingate Quarry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham * Old Wingate, County Durham * Wingat ...

and

Mitchell, Indiana Mitchell is a city in Marion Township, Lawrence County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,350 at the 2010 census. History Mitchell was built as a railroad town in the mid-19th century. At this location in Lawrence County, the Chi ...

, for two years. In 1918 he became a teacher at Richmond, Indiana, where the Browns remained for the next seven years. Brown joined the faculty at Ball State Teachers College (present-day Ball State University), in 1925. The family, which now included two sons, moved to Muncie, Indiana, which remained Brown's home until his death in 1971. In 1932, the Browns had an art studio added to the rear of their home, where they worked on their art. The studio was also a gathering place for their two sons and their friends.Newton and Weiss, ''Skirting the Issue'', pp. 90–91. Brown was a professor and director of Ball State's Fine Arts Department from 1925 to 1957, when he retired as Professor Emeritus. He was also director of the Ball State Art Gallery until 1946. As Brown pursued a career as an art educator, his artistic progress earned him recognition as a talented painter. Brown regularly exhibited his art at

shows between 1922 and 1964, where he won a number of cash awards for his oils, pastels, and watercolors in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1937, and in 1945. He also exhibited his work at the

in 1922 and 1923, the Indiana Art Club, the John Herron Art Institute, the Cincinnati Museum of Art, the Richmond Art Association, and the Indiana State Fair. Brown won prizes at a Richmond Art Association exhibition and at a Herron exhibition in 1922.Newton and Weiss, ''A Grand Tradition'', pp. 103 and 351. He also exhibited his work at Western Art Association shows, as well as the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

and other local, regional, and national art exhibitions and organizations, including the

Richmond Group The Richmond Group also known as the Richmond School, is a group of American Impressionist painters who worked in the Richmond, Indiana, area from the late 19th Century through the mid-20th Century. While the Richmond Group had no formal organizatio ...

, a well-known collective of Indiana artists working in the Richmond, Indiana, area. Brown was diagnosed with

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

in 1949 and retired from teaching at Ball State in 1957. Brown gave up his studio at Ball State, but continued to paint in retirement in the home studio he shared with his wife. In his later years, as he began working more hours at home, Brown switched from oils to water-based media such as tempera, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, charcoal and pencil, largely because oils irritated Beulah Brown's allergies. Only a small percentage of his work was created in encaustics or oils.

Lifeworks

During his formative years as an educator, Brown developed a personal style that bordered on

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. His juxtaposed strokes of contrasting color later lead him to better understand and assimilate his own version of impressionism. Unlike many other impressionists of the era, Brown expanded the boundaries of impressionism beyond many of his contemporaries, including departures that encompassed both the Fauve and

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

movements. In his artistic expressions, Brown experimented with bold colors and, often, nearly formless subject matter that was intertwined with atmospherics and light in a manner similar in stubstance to

Charles Burchfield Charles Ephraim Burchfield (April 9, 1893 – January 10, 1967) was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and townscapes. The largest collection of Burchfield's paintings, archives and jo ...

's watercolors and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

's signature style, especially when Brown worked in egg

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

or in oils. Throughout his life, Brown maintained a consistent pattern of experimentation, clearly demonstrating his intention to move beyond impressionism. Brown's subject matter often focused on the

Hoosier Hoosier is the official demonym for the people of the U.S. state of Indiana. The origin of the term remains a matter of debate, but "Hoosier" was in general use by the 1840s, having been popularized by Richmond resident John Finley's 1833 poem " ...

countryside using atmospheric effects and light. Works undertaken later in his later years were much more broadly brush stroked that his earlier works, often focusing on life pictures that reveal a spontaneity to those in his early landscapes. Among his peers, Brown's interpretation of atmospherics was regarded as vastly superior to many of his older colleagues, who largely sacrificed their conservative palettes in order to exploit a more decorative artificiality. Brown's use of brightly-pigmented tempera, which created a depth and texture similar to that found in many of the great post-impressionist painters, appears to amplify the effects of atmospherics and light. Brown's subject matter was equally far reaching, including

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

, still life,

marine art Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre parti ...

landscape art Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

, architectural art, and industrial scenes. Brown's work, as revealed in several exceptionally spontaneous works, captured the essence of the Midwestern atmosphere, and, more importantly, the feeling of a simple place and time. Brown's brushwork and rapid manipulation of bright pigments were successful in simplifying elements and forms for the viewer.

Death and legacy

After his death on April 14, 1971, at the age of eighty, the ''Muncie Star'' described Brown's work as art which "didn’t attempt to cure the World’s ills or point out a message." Brown's imagery and style greatly expanded the scope of basic Midwestern impressionism far beyond those of his contemporaries. Brown's works are in the collections of the Ball State University Museum of Art, the

(formerly the Herron Art Institute), and the

. Brown's portrait was painted by

Wayman Elbridge Adams Wayman Elbridge Adams (September 23, 1883 – April 7, 1959) was an American painter best known for his portraits of famous people. His skill at painting at high speed earned him the nickname 'Lightning'. Life He was born in Muncie, Indiana, and ...

, who studied at the Herron School of Art and was known for his portraiture that included prominent artists, political leaders, and authors such as

Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels '' The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitz ...

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Cincinnati Art Gallery

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071223111424/http://www.rhlovegalleries.com/site/epage/19321_472.htm R.H. Love Galleries
Spainerman Gallery

Wright Fine Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Francis Focer 1891 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters American Impressionist painters Ball State University alumni Ohio State University alumni Ball State University faculty Artists from Muncie, Indiana 20th-century American male artists Herron School of Art and Design alumni