John Appleton Brown (July 12, 1844 – January 18, 1902) was an American landscape painter working largely in pastels and oils, born in
West Newbury, Massachusetts
West Newbury is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Situated on the Merrimack River, its population was 4,500 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
History
Originally i ...
.
He showed talent at an early age and studied under
Emile Lambinet in France. For many years he worked and showed in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, summering in his native northeastern Massachusetts and painting his best known lyrical landscapes there. In 1891 he and his wife, noted artist Agnes Augusta Bartlett Brown, moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he died on January 18, 1902.
[
]
Family and education
Although Massachusetts town vital records and many sources[ identify ]West Newbury, Massachusetts
West Newbury is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Situated on the Merrimack River, its population was 4,500 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
History
Originally i ...
, as the place of John Appleton Brown's birth on July 12, 1844, some say he was born in the larger neighboring city of Newburyport
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
, where Brown attended high school. He was the second of two sons of George Frederick Handel Brown (a combmaker) and Asenath L. Page.[ His parents supported Appleton Brown's artistic talent throughout his childhood;] he spent summer school vacations painting landscapes of his native West Newbury and the surrounding area. Initially he spent a year studying with New England landscape painter Alfred Thompson Bricher
Alfred Thompson Bricher (April 10, 1837 – September 30, 1908) was a painter associated with White Mountain art and the Hudson River School.
Life and work
Bricher was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was educated in an academy at Newbur ...
.
After a year working in a Boston studio shared with fellow-novice Benjamin Curtis Porter
Benjamin Curtis Porter (August 27, 1843April 2, 1908) was an American artist.
Early life
Porter was born at Melrose, Massachusetts on August 27, 1843. He was the son of Charles Porter and Julia ( née Curtis) Porter. Porter came from an "old Ma ...
,[ in 1866 Brown traveled to France, where in 1867-68 he studied under landscape artist Emile Lambinet, himself a protégé of ]Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...
.
Career
By the 1870s, Brown was a successful and well-known Boston painter. His work was exhibited with his friends and mentors William Morris Hunt
William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824September 8, 1879) was an American painter.
Born into the political Hunt family of Vermont, he trained in Paris with the realist Jean-François Millet and studied under him at the Barbizon artists’ colony, bef ...
and Joseph Foxcroft Cole
Joseph Foxcroft Cole (1837–1892) was an American landscape artist of the Barbizon style of landscape painting.
Life and career
Cole and fellow apprentice Winslow Homer studied in Boston, before Cole moved to France to study with Émile Lambi ...
, at shows of the Boston Art Club
The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, serves to help its members, as well as non-members, to access the world of fine art. It currently has more than 250 members.
History
The Boston Art Club was first conceived in Boston in 1854 with the co ...
, and at prominent galleries.[ In the fall of 1874, he and his wife Agnes went to France to study and paint. He displayed and sold works in the ]Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
of 1875, whose jurors included established Barbizon school
The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...
painters. The Browns typically maintained a winter studio in Boston and had a summer house in West Newbury, whose surrounds comprised the rural New England landscapes which were frequent subjects of his art. Starting in 1879, both Browns had annual exhibitions at Boston's Doll and Richards gallery.[ At this time Brown's paintings and drawings were used as book illustrations.
According to ]Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
curator and art writer Barbara J. MacAdam, in the 1880s Brown adopted a brighter palette and "turned more frequently to images of fruit trees in full flower, lending him the sobriquet of 'Appleblossom Brown.'" At the invitation of Francis Davis Millet
Francis Davis Millet (November 3, 1848. – April 15, 1912) was an American academic classical painter, sculptor, and writer who died in the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' on April 15, 1912.
Early life
Francis Davis Millet was born in Mattapoi ...
, in 1886 the Browns joined an artists' colony in England, where Americans including John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
and Edwin Austin Abbey
Edwin Austin Abbey (April 1, 1852August 1, 1911) was an American muralist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings ...
were working. His paintings of the English countryside, much like in New England, were well received in Boston. Later in the 1880s the Browns summered not only in West Newbury, but also at Celia Thaxter
Celia Thaxter (née Laighton; June 29, 1835 – August 25, 1894) was an American writer of poetry and stories. For most of her life, she lived with her father on the Isles of Shoals at his Appledore Hotel. How she grew up to become a writer is de ...
's salon on Appledore Island
Appledore Island (formerly known as Hog Island) is the largest of the Isles of Shoals located about seven miles off the Maine coast. It is part of the Town of Kittery, in York County.
History
Appledore Island was originally settled by Europeans ...
among the Isles of Shoals
The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of Maine and New Hampshire.
They have been occupied for more than 400 years, fi ...
off the coast of southern Maine. There he became a close friend of Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...
and painted seascapes, including the dramatic and powerful "Storm at the Isles of Shoals."[
In the 1890s, Brown's success had expanded well beyond Boston. When he participated in an art show in Chicago, a reviewer described Brown's picture "In the Month of May" as "a brilliant, joyous study of apple-blossoms and sunny greens." In 1891, the Browns moved from Boston to New York City, which offered a more vibrant arts scene. In 1893 Brown received a medal at the ]World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
.[
]
Critics’ appraisal
Particularly with respect to the New England spring and summer landscapes for which he was best known and most appreciated,[ commenters described Brown's work as tender and delicate in its depiction of nature.][ His pictures were described as evocative of—but not imitative of—Corot. A rare negative review appeared in the March, 1872 issue of the '']Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''. This article focused on an early Brown work "Grindelwald
Grindelwald is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli (administrative district), Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Berne. In addition ...
Valley," whose subject of majestic soaring mountains in the Swiss Alps was, in the reviewer's opinion, an audacious one for Brown. In this critic's view, Brown's treatment of such a grand subject as mere sketch had the “unpardonable defect of being thinly painted.” A little over five years later, another ''Atlantic Monthly'' review concluded that in the autumn landscape "On the Artichoke, West Newbury," Brown's treatment of clouds reflected in water was appropriately not belabored in its detail: "Though done with one sweep of the brush, it would be hard to conceive how any subsequent caressing or tinkering could add an iota to their tender and evanescent loveliness."
Poetry as inspiration for, as reflected in, as inspired by, and as illustrated with Appleton Brown's work is another common theme among critics and writers. In 1879 Brown collaborated with Lucy Larcom
Lucy Larcom (March 5, 1824 – April 17, 1893) was an American teacher, poet, and author. She was one of the first teachers at Wheaton Female Seminary (now Wheaton College) in Norton, Massachusetts, teaching there from 1854 to 1862. During that ...
, illustrating her book ''Landscape in American Poetry'', which viewed the same New England landscape Brown painted through the words of noteworthy poets, such as John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...
, from the same region. Just as poetry inspired Appleton Brown's pictures, so too did his art inspire poetry. Will Amos Reed's book of verse ''Through Broken Reeds'' contains the poem "On Seeing a Picture by J. Appleton Brown." It begins, "How deep in nature’s lore must artists dip / To form such lights and shadows with a brush’s tip!"
Personal life and death
In June 1874, Brown married Newburyport native Agnes Augusta Bartlett. She was a noted artist in her own right, painting in oil in a style not unlike her husband's. Her subjects included landscapes, flowers, and later cats.[
By all accounts, Brown was charming,][ a good friend, and "retiring and modest" in nature.][ He was also said to be an excellent art teacher. At the same time, Brown's work was exhibited at fashionable shows that displayed not only art but also fashionable art viewers. Brown maintained "social relations with our best families,"] serving, for instance, as an officer in Boston's St. Botolph Club which included the historians Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 November 9, 1924) was an American Republican politician, historian, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served in the United States Senate from 1893 to 1924 and is best known for his positions on foreign policy. ...
and Francis Parkman
Francis Parkman Jr. (September 16, 1823 – November 8, 1893) was an American historian, best known as author of '' The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life'' and his monumental seven-volume '' France and England in North Am ...
. Brown was also a member of the Society of American Artists
The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative.
The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of ...
, and an associate of the National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
.[
Brown died at age 57, on January 18, 1902. His friends and fellow artists Alfred Q. Collins and Frank Shapleigh accompanied his body to Newburyport for burial.][ In March 1902, the Century Club mounted a memorial exhibition of his work.] His works are now housed in such institutions as the Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
art museums, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
.
Gallery
John Appleton Brown - New England Landscape - 15.880 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, New England Landscape
Bridge in Late Spring by John Appleton Brown.jpg, Bridge in Late Spring
John Appleton Brown - Hillside in Summer - 19.1323 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, Hillside in Summer
A Country Road by John Appleton Brown.jpg, A Country Road
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, John Appleton
19th-century American painters
American male painters
20th-century American painters
People from West Newbury, Massachusetts
People from Newburyport, Massachusetts
1844 births
1902 deaths
Artists from Boston
Painters from New York City
19th-century American male artists
20th-century American male artists