William Theophilus Brown In the Studio
Foreword
In everyone’s life, there are people who are legends that you have the luck to meet in person, sometimes only once. My sole encounter with William Theophilus Brown occurred at a book signing event for the release of the monograph written by John Arthur in 2007. He greeted me and my late partner Richard, whom he had known socially for several decades, kindly and signed two copies for each of us. I cannot remember the pleasantries Richard and he shared, but I do remember the appraising eye he cast upon my twenty something self.
I thanked him for signing the book and we moved on to the small exhibition in the gallery to view the selection of drawings and paintings Brown had recently done. As I took them in, I reflected on my interaction with Brown, finding him to be a gentle, shy, intelligent man with a deep internal world and a wry sense of humor. I also got the sense that there was a slight separation between himself and the world around him, and that every interaction was a crossing of that divide. One of the reasons for this was his relationship with his parents growing up, which was very formal and removed. Another, and perhaps more important, reason is that for roughly the first half of his life it was illegal to be a homosexual in the United States. While things did begin to change in the 1970s on both the social and legal fronts, it wasn’t until Brown was in his 70s that Ellen famously came out on television on her sitcom of the same title and it wasn’t until three years after he died that the Supreme Court voted gay marriage to be legal across the country. These restrictions on who he could be and how he could outwardly behave certainly impacted his life and colored his relationships with others. In his artwork, it is evident as well in the distance we feel between us as the viewer and the subjects Brown has depicted. He is curious about them, interested to find out who they are, but from a safe distance.
Brown’s works have long been contextualized through the perspective of the Bay Area Figurative movement, which he was an important member of. However, there are other contexts to consider them in. In her essay on the following pages, writer and critic Lavinia Wolf explores the social and political contexts surrounding Brown’s later works and the greater implications they have beyond the figurative context. I am very thankful to Ms. Wolf for her insightful essay and for her bringing a fresh perspective to Brown’s works.
I would also like to thank Scott Shields, Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento for partnering with us at Paul Thiebaud Gallery to represent the Estate of William Theophilus Brown. All Proceeds from the sale of the artworks from the Estate benefit The Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown Endowment Fund at the Crocker Art Museum, which supports projects relating to emerging artists or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI+) artists. Proceeds go to the acquisition, care, exhibition, scholarship, and publication of the art by emerging and LGBTQI+ artists, along with related public programs.
As part of the programming accompanying this exhibition, the gallery held a preview screening of the newly completed documentary Theophilus by director Roy Allen Wood on Saturday, February 8, 2025. In addition to the film, Wood also produced a set of 16 video shorts from footage not in the film and he has graciously allowed us to feature these shorts alongside Brown’s works in the exhibition. I extend my thanks to Roy Allen Wood for allowing us to screen the documentary and film shorts during the exhibition. To view the video shorts online, go to www.theophilusmovie.com.
Also part of our programming for the exhibition is an upcoming panel discussion between myself, Scott Shields, and Matt Gonzalez about Brown and his life-partner and fellow artist from the Bay Area Figurative movement, Paul Wonner, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. I thank both of them for agreeing to participate in what I am sure will be a lively discussion.
Lastly, I wish to thank the team here at Paul Thiebaud Gallery – Colleen Casey, Matthew Miller, and Gregory Hemming – for all of their hard work and dedication to making the exhibition, events, and this catalog a success. Without it, none of this would have been possible. Thank you!
Greg Flood, Director February 2025
This is a Man’s World…1
“There is no such thing as a gay sensibility and, yes, it has an enormous impact on our culture.” 2
– Jeff Weinstein
In the post-war period of the 20th century in the United States, queer writers, composers, singers, dancers, actors, and artists created much of modern American culture. Among the artists from this era who are not only queer, but are considered to be canon defining members of modern and post-modern movements, are figures such as Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Frida Khalo, Harmony Hammond, and Ester Hernandez, to name only a few. Two other artists fitting these criteria are William Theophilus Brown and his life partner Paul Wonner, who are best known as members of the Bay Area Figurative movement.
Emerging in the 1950s and led first by David Park and Elmer Bischoff, Bay Area Figuration emerged as a reaction against the ideological dominance of Abstract Expressionism in the United States, and specifically the version of it being taught by Clyfford Still at the California School of Fine Arts (later known as the San Francisco Art Institute). A number of the artists associated with the movement, including Park, Bischoff, James Weeks and Richard Diebenkorn – all considered part of the movement’s “first generation” – as well as Joan Brown and Manuel Neri from the “second generation” all were alumni from CSFA. Wonner and Brown earned their MFAs from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1953 and 1954, respectively, having studied under David Park who also taught there, and moved fully into painting in a figurative mode by 1956. This later arrival led others to consider them, along with Nathan Oliviera who went to the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts), as part of the “bridge generation” of the movement. 3
These generational designations were created by art historian Caroline A. Jones in the exhibition catalogue Bay Area Figurative Art 1950-1965, but the structural divisions they impose do not always accurately convey the complicated history of the movement. The figurative paintings in Diebenkorn’s Berkeley series do not emerge until late in 1955, which would seemingly put him in the bridge generation as well, or conversely make the argument for Brown and Wonner to be considered a part of the first generation. The structure also does not take into account Brown’s separate origin story for arriving at figuration.
During the late 1940s, Brown’s works showed the influence of pre-war modernism from Europe, where he had travelled several times and met artists like Picasso, Miro, and Leger, among others. Before coming to Berkeley, Brown lived in New York City and was close friends with Willem and Elaine de Kooning, whom he met in the spring of 1950. Both of the de Kooning’s used the language of Abstract Expressionism to reinterpret the figure, and they were both an important influence on Brown. Brown’s first known painting of football players in action dates to late 1951/ early 1952 when he was still in New York and its style directly relates to a series of paintings Willem de Kooning completed in the late 1940s. Brown continued to paint football players after arriving at Berkeley, while also expanding into other subject matter as he embraced abstracted figuration in his work.
1 James Joseph Brown and Betty Jean Newsome. It’s a Man’s Man’s World. King Records, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1966.
2 Weinstein, Jeff. Unrecorded remarks during the panel discussion Sexual Identity: “You Are Not Yourself”. New York: New Museum of the New School for Social Research, December 12, 1984.
3 Jones, Caroline A. Bay Area Figurative Art 1950-1965. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1990, pg. 182.
Brown developed and painted in the Bay Area Figurative mode for well over a decade after receiving his MFA, receiving national acclaim and recognition in the process. However, by the mid-1960s he began to search for a new way of painting. He settled on portraiture and a primary focus on depicting the male form in his paintings, drawings, and prints. Adopting a more contained, refined style with this change, the first portraits arrived around 1970. These full-length depictions of male sitters – of which Portrait of Shawn, 1970, and Untitled (David M.), 1981-1996, are examples – go beyond the classic typologies in western art: stoic military leader/warrior, genteel businessman, regal monarch enthroned. Indeed, modern artists like Courbet and Bellows had expanded the range of archetypes to include strong professional and working-class men produced by the industrial revolution. Even within the history of queer art, artists like J.C. Leyendecker and Paul Cadmus focused on depictions of strength and masculinity in their male subjects.
However, when we come to the works by Brown there is something different. In Portrait of Shawn, an inner world of thought and feeling can be perceived through the sitter’s casualness of dress, his manner, and the expression he carries. Untitled (David M.) displays the same qualities, even though the sitter is fully nude. Brown’s brushstrokes and harmonious palettes in these works convey a sense of tenderness and vulnerability towards the artist from the sitters, and by extension the viewer. Looking at other works with single figures like Luckey (2007), Jamie (1998), David (1999), and the artist’s Self Portrait (1998), a throughline of these attributes can be found in each painting.
Brown’s compositions with multiple figures operate differently and the viewer’s relationship to them differs too. The most straight forward of these is Two Artists with Model (2009). Here, two male artists are at their easels drawing the nude male model in front of them. The perspective of the viewer to this scene is that of Brown, who chose to make the entire scene in front of him the focus instead of just the model. The identities of the two other artists are currently unknown, but that information would not necessarily change our understanding of the dynamics in the scene. With Untitled (Studio Session) from 2010, however, what appears to be straight forward is anything but. The ambiguity of the setting the figures are placed in calls into question the description in the title. Is this a studio session, or could this be an audition by the central figure for a job at a night club or an acting role? This ambiguity of interpretations is one of the compelling aspects of the work.
Untitled (Three Nudes) (Trio), from 1994, depicts two of Brown’s favorite models – David and Jamie – standing next to one another in the nude and looking at the head of a man that is either a painting on the wall or the face of a figure peering into the room from a window. Standing nude in the doorway to the room is Brown himself. Brown was known to have had intimate relationships with some of his models, Jamie Yates being the most well-known. Is the figure peering into the room meant to symbolically represent Brown’s partner, Paul Wonner, as Brown engages in a tryst?
Figure 1: William Theophilus Brown and David M., c. 1996.
Or was it that the portrait on the wall simply happened to be there at the time this work on paper was created, and it was needed to balance the composition? Or both? We may never know for sure, but the possibilities imbue the work with a specter of the unsolvable, causing us to keep revisiting it.
The most complex and psychological work is the undated Untitled (Male Nude with Sheet). In it we see a seated male figure in front of a piece of fabric being held up by a clothed male figure hidden behind the cloth. The two figures are almost identical in their visages, leading us to wonder if they are twins, just brothers, or the same model depicted twice. If viewed through the latter interpretation, the sitter is metaphorically and visually revealing himself to both Brown and by extension viewer. What does this say about the model himself and Brown’s choice to represent him in this way? If they are twins or just brothers, is one embarrassing the other in a game of brotherly one-upmanship, or is it something else? Answers to the questions raised by Brown’s multi-figure compositions may never be fully resolved, and I suspect that, in part, was Brown’s intent with a knowing wink and a sly smile.
Brown’s works have been viewed through either the Bay Area Figurative lens or art historical interpretations of form, color, composition, and style for decades. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with those analyses. However, they miss the queer coding within Brown’s artworks as well as the social and political aspects within them. Brown and Wonner were partners from the time they first met in 1952 until Wonner’s passing in 2008. While they were as open as they could be about their relationship in the 1950s and 1960s, their ability to do so without serious consequences was limited. As the decades progressed though, their ability to be more open was possible but it was slow in coming. Brown’s choice to mainly focus on the male form after 1970 parallels the rise of both the Gay Liberation and Feminist movements in the West. Contemporaries of Brown’s that were directly and indirectly associated with these movements include David Hockney, his close friend Don Bachardy, Alice Neel, and Sylvia Sleigh, who each reinterpreted and broke new ground in the depiction of men and masculinity. Brown’s male nudes, like those of his contemporaries, went against the western tradition of focusing on the nude female form as the primary cultural symbol, and the male role being the clothed, stoic warrior whose inner life is hidden behind a the armored mask of a hyper-masculine, muscled countenance.
Other important cultural contexts to consider are those of the Vietnam War and the greater Cold War. Both of these wars were supported and advanced primarily by conservative elements of the political and cultural elite in the United States. Wielding the levers of industry, they championed the rigidly defined nuclear family as the social ideal in American society. Through the government, they used the military draft to forcibly create a new generation of soldiers, and attempted to adhere them into the traditional mold of masculinity. Creating an alternative image and definition of masculinity in this climate was a bold form of protest against these forces in American society, and ties Brown’s works to the counter culture movement that came out of San Francisco and spread across the country. Viewing his works in these contexts underpins the cultural and political conditions within which they were created, and brings into focus the transgressive element behind their creation.
Figure 2: Jamie Yates, c. 1994.
3: William
c. 2012.
More recently in America, male nudity has begun to catch up with its female counterpart within mainstream culture. The culture has also been more celebratory of male archetypes that embody complex and nuanced forms of masculinity, finally catching up to where Brown and others had gotten to decades ago. However, within the past two decades countervailing forces have come to the fore, fetishizing highly muscled physiques and ‘traditional roles’ for men. The attack of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were the major precipitating events behind their resurgence within American culture. Recent elections and the rise of widespread conservative media channels and platforms have propelled this thinking once again into the mainstream. Today, the newly confirmed Secretary of Defense has pledged to restore the U.S. military’s “warrior culture”4 and with the President’s approval has made swift moves to do that, including the elimination of cultural identity months and other diversity programs that do not promote the narrow, traditional definition of masculine identity. Mainstream media is following suit with more television programming promoting these values and popular music embracing the genre of Country Music, the traditional musical medium of conservative and/or traditional values, at a level previously not seen. The goal of this form of conservatism is to not only have these beliefs dominate the public sphere, but also that of the private sphere. What does this mean for Brown’s paintings of men portraying nuanced forms of masculinity and sexual identity, as well as those of his contemporaries? They have returned to being icons of cultural resistance, reminding us that there are alternative ways of living and thinking as we live through this swing of both the American political “pendulum”5 and those of other Western countries.
Lavinia Wolf February 2025
Lavinia Wolf is a writer and cultural critic based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
4 Hegseth, Peter. “Defense Secretary Nominee Pete Hegseth Testifies at Confirmation Hearing,” Cable-Satelite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN). Washington, D.C.: Recorded January 14, 2025 (Timestamp 0:39:15). HTTPS://www.c-span. org/program/senate-committee/defense-secretary-nominee-pete-hegseth-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/653831.
5 Ginsburg, Ruth Bader. “Newsnight Interview with Olly Lambert,” BBC Newsnight, Broadcast February 23, 2017 (Timestamp: 0:00:17). HTTPS://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQzClRA2QLM.
Figure
Theophilus Brown standing in front of Portrait of Shawn,
Plate 1:
Luckey, 2007
acrylic and charcoal on paper, 14 x 9 7/8 inches
Plate 2: Up, 2010
acrylic and charcoal on paper, 16 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches
Plate 3:
Two Artists with Model, 2009
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper, 13 7/8 x 16 7/8 inches
Plate 4:
Self Portrait, 1998
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 inches
Plate 5:
Untitled (David M.), 1981-1996 acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
6:
Plate
Untitled (Artist and Model in Studio)(Quiz), 2010
acrylic, graphite, watercolor, and charcoal on paper, 6 x 7 3/4 inches
Plate 7:
Untitled (Three Nudes)(Trio), 1994
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper, 14 1/4 x 19 1/8 inches
8:
Plate
Untitled, 1999
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper, 14 x 9 3/4 inches
9:
Plate
Jamie, 1999
acrylic and charcoal on paper, 13 7/8 x 10 3/4 inches
Plate 10:
Portrait of Shawn, 1970
acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches
Plate 11: David, 1999
acrylic and charcoal on paper, 13 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches
Plate 12:
Jamie, 1998
acrylic and charcoal on paper, 14 x 9 3/4 inches
13:
Plate
Untitled (Male Nude with Sheet), 2002 acrylic on panel, 18 x 14 inches
Exhibition Checklist
Plate 1: Luckey 2007
acrylic and charcoal on paper 14 x 9 7/8 inches
Plate 2: Up 2010
acrylic and charcoal on paper 16 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches
Plate 3: Two Artists with Model 2009
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper 13 7/8 x 16 7/8 inches
Plate 4: Self Portrait 1998
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper 11 x 8 1/2 inches
Plate 5: Untitled (David M.) 1981-1996
acrylic on canvas 60 x 48 inches
Plate 6: Untitled (Artist and Model in Studio)(Quiz) 2010
acrylic, graphite, watercolor, and charcoal on paper 6 x 7 3/4 inches
Plate 7: Untitled (Three Nudes)(Trio) 1994
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper 14 1/4 x 19 1/8 inches
Plate 8: Untitled 1999
acrylic, charcoal, and graphite on paper 14 x 9 3/4 inches
Plate 9: Jamie 1999
acrylic and charcoal on paper 13 7/8 x 10 3/4 inches
Plate 10: Portrait of Shawn 1970
acrylic on canvas 72 x 48 inches
Plate 11: David 1999
acrylic and charcoal on paper 13 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches
Plate 12: Jamie 1998
acrylic and charcoal on paper 14 x 9 3/4 inches
Plate 13: Untitled (Male Nude with Sheet) 2002
acrylic on panel 18 x 14 inches
William Theophilus Brown
Born 1919 Moline, IL
Died 2012 San Francisco, CA
Education
1954 MA, Art, University of California, Berkeley 1941 BA, Music, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Teaching
1975-1976
Faculty, University of California, Davis
1967 Visiting Professor of drawing and painting, University of Kansas, Lawrence
1965 Guest Instructor of drawing and painting, Stanford University, California 1958-1960 Faculty, University of California, Davis
1955-1957 Faculty, California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA 1954-1956 Faculty, University of California, Berkeley
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 William Theophilius Brown: In the Studio, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Paul Wonner & Theophilus Brown: Painting is its Own Language, Cañada College Art Gallery, Redwood City, CA 2023-2024
Breaking the Rules: Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA (April- August 2023). Exhibition travels to Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA (October 2023-January 2024), and Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (January-March 2024).
2016 William Theophilus Brown Exhibition: Paintings and Works on Paper by Bay Area Figurative Artist from 1963 to 2005, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012 Theophilus Brown: Works from Collections of Friends, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA
2011
2010
Theophilus Brown | An Artful Life, Thomas Reynolds Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown: Paintings and Drawings, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA
Theophilus Brown: Collages, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA
Theophilus Brown: Nudes-Five Decades of Drawing and Painting the Figure, Thomas Reynolds Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009-2010 Bay Area Figurative: Paintings and Drawings, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
New Images of Man and Woman: Paintings, Sculpture and Works on Paper, Alphonse Berber Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2009
2008-2009
2008
2005
2003
2002
2000
Theophilus Brown at 90: Recent Abstract Collages, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown: Five Decades of Rendering the Male Nude, The Art House, McAllen, TX
William Theophilus Brown: Figurative Paintings, Fresno Art Museum, CA
Theophilus Brown A Painter’s Life: Paintings, Collages and Drawings, 1956-2007, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown Drawings, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA
Theophilus Brown: New Abstract Collages, Elins Eagles- Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown: Selected Works from 50 Years of Figurative Painting, Freddie Fong Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown: Abstractions, Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, CA
Theophilus Brown: Portraits, Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco
1999 Encounters, Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 Theophilus Brown: Drawings and Industrial Landscapes, Archbishop Alemany Library, Dominican College of San Rafael, CA
1996-1997
Theophilus Brown: New Paintings, Koplin Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
1994 Works on paper, Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Exhibition, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York
Theophilus Brown: Major Drawings, Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
1992
Theophilus Brown: The Urban Landscape, Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown: New Paintings, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York
Exhibition of erotic works, Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco
1991 Theophilus Brown: Figures and Portraits, 1966–1991, Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1990
Theophilus Brown: Works on Paper, Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA
Theophilus Brown: New Works on Paper, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York
Theophilus Brown, Campbell- Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989 Paintings and drawings, Koplin Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
Exhibition, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
1987 Theophilus Brown: Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1983
1982
Exhibition, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Theophilus Brown: Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Theophilus Brown: Figures in Interiors, Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, Cowell College, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
1978 William Theo Brown, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1975 William Theo Brown: Portraits and Allegories, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1973
William Theophilus Brown, Adele Bednarz Galleries, Los Angeles
1972 Acrylic Paintings on Paper by William Theo Brown, Medinaceli Galleries, Southampton, New York
William Theo Brown: Paintings and Drawings, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1971 New Paintings by William Theo Brown, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1968 William Theo Brown, Landau-Alan Gallery, New York
1967 Recent Paintings by William Theo Brown, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
William Theo Brown, University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
1966 William Theo Brown: Landscape and Figure Paintings, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1965 Recent Paintings: William Theo Brown, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1964 William Theo Brown, Hollis Galleries, San Francisco, CA
1962 William Brown: Oils-Drawings, Kornblee Gallery, New York
1961 Exhibition, Barone Gallery, New York
1960 William Brown: Recent Paintings, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1958 William Brown: Recent Paintings, Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2021-2022 Moment to Moment: Figuration and the Northern California Avant Garde, Heather James Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2021 Still Life, Still, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, California
2020 Artsy Auction: Figure + Form, Heather James Fine Art
2019-2020
Theophilus Brown and Paul Wonner: Seen Through Different Lenses, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
2019 The Estate of Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions (cont.)
2018-2019
Year-End Sale: From the Backroom, Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017 Bay Area Figurative Drawing 1958-1968, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2016 Giants Intertwined: The Estate of Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown, Sullivan Goss-An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
The Impression: A Print Survey, Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA
As I Am: Painting the Figure in Post-War San Francisco, Hackett | Mill, San Francisco, CA
2015-2016 Back to Life: Bay Area Figurative Drawings, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
2014 In with the New: 2014 Reductions-Consignments and Select Gallery Artists’ Works, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012-2013 Partners Collection: Exhibition and Sale, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012 Recent Acquisitions: Modern & Contemporary, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco. CA
Treasures: From the Charles & Glenna Campbell Collection, Thomas Reynolds Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Blossoms and Roots: 4th and 40th Anniversary Shows, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
A Celebration: Paintings, Drawings and Collages by Theophilus Brown (1919-2012), Thomas Reynolds Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Abstract: 2000-2010, Sacramento Temporary Contemporary Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Group Show: Self Portraits and Others, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Drawings & Prints by Bay Area Artists, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010-2011 Inventory Reduction: An Unprecedented Event, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Tomorrow’s Legacies: Gifts Celebrating the Next 125 Years, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
2010 Lost and Found: Visions of the Davis Art Center, Davis Art Center, Davis, CA
AQUA: Art on Water, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Figure Show: Paintings and Drawings of the Human Form, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA
Summer Deaccession Sale, Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Abstract and Figurative: Highlights of Bay Area Painting, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2008-2009
A Modern Day Drawings Cabinet: Bay Area Figurative Works, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Stimulus Package: 5-30% Price Reduction, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Every Thursday Evening: The Drawings of Frank Lobdell, Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Nathan Oliveira, Paul Wonner, and Theophilus Brown, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA
2008 Here and Now: Group Show, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
A Grand Opening Affair: A Benefit for Visual Aid, ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco 2007-2013 Flow, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE (June-August 2007).
Exhibition travels to the following venues in NE: Concordia University, Seward (August-September 2007); McKinley Center, North Platte (October-November 2007); Museum of the High Plains, McCook (November-December 2007); Cornerstone Bank, York (January-February 2008); Columbus Art Gallery (February-March 2008); Norfolk Arts Center (March-April 2008); Hastings Museum (April-May 2008); Fremont Area Art Association (May-June 2008); and Morton-James Public Library, Nebraska City (October-November 2008). Exhibition later travels to Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (January- March 2013).
2006 The Collection in Context: Bay Area Figurative Art, di Rosa Preserve: Art + Nature, Napa, CA
2006 Posed at Midcentury: Master Drawings by Bay Area Figuratives, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Bay Area Figuration: Then and Now, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
2005 Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Bay Area Figuration Show, University Library Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, CA
Hidden in Plain Sight: Stellar Art from Area Collections, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2004 I Got My Art in San Francisco, Odd Fellows Building, San Francisco, CA 24 Years of Prints, b. sakata garo, Sacramento, CA
2002 Benefit exhibition, Odd Fellows Building, San Francisco, CA
2000 Concerning the Figure, Freddie Fong Contemporary Art, San Francisco
Painters of the Northern California Bay Area Figurative Movement, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
1999-2000 Green Woods and Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK (September-November 1999).
Exhibition travels to John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL (February-March 2000), and Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IA (April-June 2000)
1999 Painting in the 21st Century, What Now? Hollins University, Roanoke, VA
From the Figurative Tradition: Theophilus Brown and Paul Wonner; Selected Paintings: 1954-1999, Wiegand Gallery, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA
1997 38 American realist painters, Figures and Interiors, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 Generations: The Lineage of Influence in Bay Area Art, Richmond Art Center, CA
Group show with Christopher Brown, Lew Carson, Pauletta Chanco, Freddie Fong Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
Rebels: Poets and Painters of the 1950s, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
Group show, Koplin Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
Group show with Pauletta Chanco, Sam Francis, David Park, Wonner, and others, Freddie Fong Contemporary Art, San Francisco
1995 Exhibitions Richard Hanson Fine Arts, Fresno, CA
1994 American Realism + Figurative Painting, Cline Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
1993 Still Life, 1963–1993, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1992-1993 Directions in Bay Area Printmaking, Palo Alto Cultural Center, CA
1992 Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
1991-1992 American Realism and Figurative Art: 1952-1990, organized by the Japan Association of Art Museums and the Yomiuri Shimbun. Exhibition travels to the following venues in Japan: Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai (November-December 1991); Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama (JanuaryFebruary 1992); Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima (FebruaryMarch 1992); Museum of Modern Art, Shiga (April-May 1992); and Kochi Prefecture Museum of Folk Art, Kochi (May-June 1992).
1991 California Cityscapes, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
Still Life: Paintings and Drawings, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York
1990 Northern California Figuration 1945-1990, Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA
Group show, Richard Hanson Fine Arts, Fresno, CA
All Creatures Great and Small, Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA
1989-1990 Bay Area Figurative Art, 1950-1965, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (December 1989-February 1990). Exhibition travels to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (June-September 1990), and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA(October-December 1990)
Selected Group Exhibitions (cont.)
1988 Made in California, Richard Hanson Fine Arts, Fresno, CA
1987 Master Artists, Part 2, Palo Alto Cultural Center, CA
1987 A Painterly Vision: California 1960s, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco
1986 Life Drawing—1980’s: Seven San Francisco Artists (Mark Adams, Gordon Cook, Charles Griffin Farr, Wayne Thiebaud, Beth Van Hoesen, Paul Wonner), Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1985-1987
American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors from the Glenn C. Janss Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (November 1985- January 1986). Exhibition travels to deCordova and Dana Museum and Park, Lincoln, MA (February-April 1986); Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin (July-September 1986); Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (October-December 1986); Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA (January-March 1987); Akron Art Museum, OH (April-May 1987); and Madison Art Center, WI (July- September 1987)
1984 “Impressionist” landscapes with other contemporary California artists at Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities, Ketchum, ID
1983 Figure Drawings: Five San Francisco Artists (with Mark Adams, Gordon Cook, Wayne Thiebaud, and Beth Van Hoesen), Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco
1982 Contemporary Landscapes, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
1981 Drawings from the Figure: Mark Adams, Theophilus Brown, Gordon Cook, Wayne Thiebaud, and Beth Van Hoesen, University Gallery, California State University, Hayward, which travels to California State University, Long Beach, CA
1976 William Theo Brown and Paul Wonner, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
1973 “California School,” E.G. Gallery, Kansas City, MI
Works on paper, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1972 Exhibition of “semisurrealistic” paintings with Wonner, Art building, California State University, Fresno, CA
Juried exhibition, Art Rental Gallery, Long Beach Museum of Art, CA Crocker Art Gallery Association 1972 Invitational, E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Group show at Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1970 Show of painting and sculpture from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Phili Casady of Santa Fe, The Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM
1969 Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign
1968 Alumni Show, California College of Arts and Crafts, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Oakland, California
The California Landscape, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Los Angeles,
1968 Exhibition of collection of Arizona State University held at the A. J. Matthews Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Bay Area Artists, California State College at Los Angeles, CA
California Art Festival, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
1967 37 Museums, 67 Artists, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Los Angeles Artists’ Artists, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Los Angeles
The West-80 Contemporaries, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
Exhibition of the collection of André and Dory Previn, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA
1966 Third Annual Purchase Exhibition, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Crocker Art Gallery Association Invitational subtitled “California 66,” E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento
1966
Group show of Bay Area Figurative watercolors and drawings, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles
American Painting, 1966, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Seven California Figurative Artists, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
1965 18th Annual Creative Arts Exhibition, Henderson Fine Arts Gallery, University of Colorado, Boulder
A Survey of Contemporary Art, J. B. Speed Memorial Museum, Louisville, KY
Watercolors: 1963-1964, Waddington Galleries, London, UK
1964-1965
The Painter and the Photograph organized by the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque. Exhibition travels to Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (October 1964); Fine Arts Building, Indiana University, Bloomington (December 1964); The University of lowa, lowa City (January-February 1965); University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque (April-May 1965), where it was titled The Photographer and the Object; Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans; and Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California (May- July 1965).
1964 Pacific Coast Drawings, Image Gallery, Portland, Oregon
A Hundred and One Drawings: A Representative Collection, Los Angeles Valley College Art Gallery, Van Nuys, CA
Recent Paintings of Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown, Hack-Light Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
Paintings and Constructions of the 1960s: Selected from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
2nd Annual Summer Exhibition, Art Dealers Association of America, Parke- Bernet Galleries, New York, NY
William Theo Brown: Paintings and Drawings; Paul Worner: Watercolors and Drawings, Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
1963 Show of art for rent and purchase, Fort Worth Art Center, Texas
Artists West of the Mississippi: The Realistic Image, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado
11th Annual All-City Outdoor Art Festival, Los Angeles
Exhibition of the Jefferson Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1962-63 Lithographs from the Tamarind Workshop, University Art Galleries, University of California, Los Angeles (January-February 1962).
Exhibition travels to California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco (February-March 1962); Reed College, Portland, OR; Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, Texas; Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas; Contemporary Arts Association, Houston; Des Moines Art Center, lA (November- December 1962); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (January-February 1963); Art Institute of Chicago (February-March 1963); Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, MI(September 1963); Fine Arts Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (December 1963); and Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA
1962 Exhibition organized by the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor, Balboa Pavilion Gallery, Newport Beach, California
1961-1962
Exhibition of San Francisco Bay Area painters, Downey Museum of Art, CA
Third Winter Invitational, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1961 Two San Francisco Painters, Gallery Marcus, Laguna Beach, CA
1960-1961
Second Winter Invitational, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1960 Bay Printmakers’ Society Sixth National Exhibition, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, California
Twentieth-Century Drawing, The Art Center in La Jolla, CA
Show of Sacramento area artists, Barrios Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Painting-Some Current Directions, Long Beach City College Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions (cont.)
1960 Winter Invitational, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1959-60
Sixty-Fourth American Exhibition: Painting, Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Third Pacific Coast Biennial: An Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by Artists of California, Oregon and Washington, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California (October-November 1959). Exhibition travels to the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego (December 1959-January 1960); Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (January-February 1960); Portland Art Museum, Oregon (March- April 1960); Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle (May-June 1960); and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco (July-August 1960)
East-West, a show of Los Angeles and New York figurative painters, Zabriskie Gallery, New York (December 1959-January 1960). Representing Los Angeles are Brown, Wonner, and John Paul Jones; New York painters are Lester Johnson, Leland Bell, and Robert De Niro Sr. The exhibition travels to Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles (February-March 1960).
1959 Exhibition, San Francisco Art Bank, Sacramento State College Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Sports and Recreation Panorama, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Davenport, IA Exhibition, San Francisco Art Bank, American River Junior College Library, Sacramento, CA
1958-1960 West Coast Artists organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art. Exhibition travels to the E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento (November 1958); Fort Lauderdale Art Center, Florida (NovemberDecember 1958); Arizona State University, Tempe (January 1959); Peabody College Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee (April-May 1959); Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana State Teachers College, Terre Haute, IN (May-June 1959); London Public Library, London, ON (October 1959); Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON (October-November 1959); Sackville Art Association, NB (NovemberDecember 1959); Banff School of Fine Arts, AB (March 1960); Calgary Allied Arts Centre, AB (March-April 1960); and Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary, AB (April 1960).
1958 Twenty-Second Annual Drawing and Print Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art Exhibition organized by Landau Gallery, Los Angeles Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA
Artist Members’ Exhibition, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
Fresh Paint, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
Seventy-Seventh Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art
Tenth Anniversary Loan Exhibition, Landau Gallery, Los Angeles California Painters Exhibition, Oakland Art Museum, CA
1957-1958 Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting organized by the Oakland Art Museum, California (September 1957). Exhibition travels to Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art (November-December 1957); Dayton Art Institute, OH (January-February 1958); and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, CO (March 1958)
Second Pacific Coast Biennial Exhibition, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California (September-October 1957). A smaller version of the exhibition is circulated by the Smithsonian Institution and travels to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco (October 1957-January 1958); Seattle Art Museum (January-February 1958); and Portland Art Museum, OR (February-March 1958).
1957 Ninth Annual Gallery Group Show, Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1957
American Paintings, 1945-1957, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Art of the Bay Region: Nel Sinton, William Brown, San Francisco Museum of Art
Seventy-Sixth Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art
1956 San Francisco Art Association Members Show, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco
Seventy-Fifth Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art
1955 Fifth Annual Oil and Sculpture Exhibition, Richmond Art Center, CA
Action 1 (The Merry-Go-Round Show), Looff Hippodrome (Santa Monica Pier Carousel Building), Santa Monica, CA
1954 Western Painters’ Annual Exhibition, Oakland Art Museum, CA
Eighteenth Annual Watercolor Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art
1953
Seventeenth Annual Watercolor Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art
Annual Exhibition: Oil Paintings and Sculpture, Oakland Art Gallery, CA
Seventy-Second Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art
1952 Football in the 23rd Annual Artists Exhibition, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Davenport, IA
1950 3rd Exhibition of Art and Artists along the Mississippi, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Davenport, IA
1939 An Exhibit of Pictures by Rufus H. Roys and William T. Brown, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Davenport, IA
1931 Tri-City Exhibition at the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Davenport, IA
Selected Public Collections
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco, CA
Anderson Collection at Stanford, Palo Alto, CA
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Capital Records, Los Angeles, CA
Commerce Trust Company, Kansas City, KS
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IA
di Rosa Centre for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Art Centre at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis, CA
Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Readers Digest Association, New York, NY
The Putt-McCann Art Collection
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Buck Collection, UC Irvine Jack & Shanaz Langston Institute & Museum of California Art, University of California, Irvine, CA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
University of Kansas Art Museum, Lawrence, KS
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Books and Exhibition Catalogues:
Albright, Thomas. Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Arthur, John. Theophilus Brown: Paintings, Collages, & Drawings. Chesterfield, MA: Chameleon Books, 2007.
Bakersfield Museum of Art. Legacy in Continuum: Bay Area Figuration. Essay by Roberta Carasso. Bakersfield, CA: Bakersfield Museum of Art, 2012.
Banham, Mary. Theophilus Brown: Figures in Interiors. Artist’s Statement by Theophilus Brown. Santa Cruz: Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, Cowell College, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1982.
Boas, Nancy. David Park: A Painter’s Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery. Encounters. Essay by Glenna Campbell. San Francisco: CampbellThiebaud Gallery, 1999.
Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery. Theophilus Brown: Portraits. Essay by John Arthur. San Francisco: CampbellThiebaud Gallery, 2000.
Chadwick, Whitney. From the Figurative Tradition: Theophilus Brown and Paul Wonner; Selected Paintings: 1954–1999. Belmont, CA: Wiegand Gallery, College of Notre Dame, 1999.
Charles Campbell Gallery. Figure Drawings: Five San Francisco Artists. Essay by Wayne Thiebaud. San Francisco: Charles Campbell Gallery, 1983.
Charles Campbell Gallery. Life Drawing–1980’s: Seven San Francisco Artists. Essay by Theophilus Brown. San Francisco: Charles Campbell Gallery, 1986.
Coke, Van Deren. The Painter and the Photographer. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1964.
Curtis, Cathy. A Generous Vision: The Creative Life of Elaine de Kooning. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery. Theophilus Brown: Recent Abstract Collages. San Francisco: Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, 2009.
Felix Landau Gallery. Recent Paintings by William Theo Brown. Essay by William Inge. Los Angeles: Felix Landau Gallery, 1967.
Felix Landau Gallery. Recent Paintings: William Brown. Essay by Josephine Carson. Los Angeles: Felix Landau Gallery, 1963.
Felix Landau Gallery. Recent Paintings: William Theo Brown. Los Angeles: Felix Landau Gallery, 1965.
Felix Landau Gallery. William Brown: Recent Paintings. Los Angeles: Felix Landau Gallery, 1960.
Harold, Denis, ed. Jay to Bee: Janet Frame’s letters to William Theophilus Brown. Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2016.
Heather James Fine Art. Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown. New York: Heather James Fine Art, 2019.
Inge, William. William Theo Brown. Lawrence: University of Kansas Museum of Art, 1967.
Koplin Gallery. Theophilus Brown: Figures and Portraits, 1966–1991. Essay by John Arthur. Santa Monica, CA: Koplin Gallery, 1991.
John Berggruen Gallery. Abstract and Figurative: Highlights of Bay Area Painting. Essay by Steven Nash. San Francisco: John Berggruen Gallery, 2008.
John Berggruen Gallery. Theophilus Brown: Recent Paintings. Essay by Wayne Thiebaud. San Francisco: John Berggruen Gallery, 1983.
Jones, Caroline A. Bay Area Figurative Art, 1950- 1965. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1990. Selected Public Collections (cont.)
Landau Gallery. Tenth Anniversary Loan Exhibition. Essay by Arthur Millier. Los Angeles: Landau Gallery, 1958.
Landau Gallery. William Brown: Recent Paintings. Essay by Paul Mills. Los Angeles: Landau Gallery, 1958.
Landau-Alan Gallery. William Theo Brown. New York: Landau-Alan Gallery, 1968.
Landauer, Susan. The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism. Laguna Beach: Laguna Art Museum; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Mills, Paul. Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting. Oakland: Oakland Art Museum, 1957.
McChesney, Mary Fuller. A Period of Exploration: San Francisco, 1945-1950. Oakland: Oakland Museum, 1973.
Pal, Pratapaditya. The Flute and the Brush: Indian Paintings from the William Theo Brown and Paul Wonner Collection. Newport Beach: Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1976.
Thomas Reynolds Gallery. Theophilus Brown/ An Artful Life. Essays by Paul J. Karlstrom, Helen Berggruen, Erin Clark, and Matt Gonzalez. San Francisco: Thomas Reynolds Gallery, 2011.
Thomas Reynolds Gallery. Treasures: From the Charles & Glenna Campbell Collection. San Francisco: Thomas Reynolds Gallery, 2012.
Journals and Periodicals
Artlyst. “Artist And Friend of Picasso William Theophilus Brown Dies,” Artlyst, February 10, 2012. https:// www.artlyst.com/news/artist -and-friend-of-picasso-william-theophilus-brown-dies/. Arts Magazine. “Figurative Painters in California.” Arts Magazine 32 (December 1957): 26-27.
Breton, Harriette von. “Paul Wonner and William (Theo) Brown.” Artforum 2 (March 1964): 11, 13.
Brumer, Miriam. “In the Galleries: William Theo Brown.” Arts Magazine 43 (November 1968): 61. Campbell, Lawrence. “Reviews and Previews: William T. Brown.” ARTnews 61 (April 1962): 15.
Clark, Erin. “The Charmed Life of Theophilus. Brown.” Artworks Magazine, May 11, 2020. https:// artworksmag.com/theophilus-brown/.
Danieli, Fidel A. “Figurative.” Artforum 2 (Summer 1964): 53.
Frame, Janet. “Cock and Ball Story.” Harper’s Magazine (August 2016). https://harpers.org /archive/2016/08/ cock-and-ball-story/.
Gonzalez, Matt. “A Friendship with Theophilus Brown.” The Matt Gonzalez Reader, 2011. themattgonzalez reader.com/2011/09/05 /theophilus-brown/.
Hershman, Lynn L. “William Theo Brown.” Artweek. Clipping. William Theo Brown Papers, reel 887, no. 878. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Hess, Thomas B. “Reviews and Previews: New Names this Month.” ARTnews 60 (March 1961): 18-20, 62. Hurwitz, Laurie S. “Theophilus Brown.” American Artist 57 (March 1993): 24-29. Jenkins, Steve. “Theophilus Brown.” Artweek 31 (January 2000): 6, 17.
Kunro, Eleanor C. “Figures to the Fore.” Horizon 2 (July 1960): 16. Langsner, Jules. “Los Angeles: William Brown; Doris Kreindler.” ARTnews 56 (January 1958): 51. Life. “Camera Kickoff for Art.” Life (October 8, 1956): 14-15.
McCarthy, David. “Social Nudism, Masculinity, and the Male Nude in the Work of William Theo Brown and Wynn Chamberlain in the 1960s.” Archives of American Art Journal 38 (1998): 28-38. McClellan, Douglas. “William Brown, Felix Landau.” Artforum 1 (June 1963): 16. Mills, Paul. “Bay Area Figurative.” Art in America (June 1964): 42-45.
The Museum of California. “Drawings from the Figure.” Museum of California [The Oakland Museum] (September/October 1981): 18–22.
Newsday. “Theophilus, ‘figurative movement,”” Newsday, February 10, 2012. https://www. newsday.com/ long-island/obituaries /theophilus-figurative-movement-1.3521005.
Nordland, Gerald. “Brown at Landau.” Frontier 9 (January 1958): 20-21.
Polley, Elizabeth M. “East Bay.” Artforum 4 (May 1966): 57.
Russeth, Andrew. “Bay Area Figurative Painter William Theophilus Brown Dies at 92,” Observer (February 10, 2012): n.p. https://observer. com/2012/02/bay-area-figurative-painter -williamtheophilus-brown-dies-at-92/.
Stiles, Knute. “William Theo Brown, Hollis Gallery.” Artforum 3 (December 1964): 50. Torres, Anthony. “An Artistic Giant.” Accessed May, 11, 2022. www.thomasreynolds.com /WTB_b.html.
Journals and Periodicals (cont.)
Torres, Anthony. “Elins Eagle-Smith Theophilus Brown: Recent Abstract Collages Part 2.” Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art (July 2009). https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/recent-abstractcollages-part-2/1906.
Torres, Anthony. “Theophilus Brown @ ArtHouse Gallery.” Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary. Art (May 2009). https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/2009-theophilus-brown-arthouse-gallery/1850.
Turner, Chérie Louise, “Remembering William Theophilus Brown.” Art Ltd. (San Francisco Bay Area Supplement, 2012): 22-24.
Wall Street International Magazine. “Bay Area Figurative Drawing: 1958-1968.” Wall Street International Magazine (February 14, 2017): n.p. Wilson, William. “Los Angeles: William Theo Brown.” Artforum 3 (April 1965): 14, 16.
Newspapers
Arizona Republic (Phoenix): November 1, 1964; March 13, July 14, 1968; March 21, 1976. Asbury Park Press (NJ): November 5, 1970; October 26, 1990.
Baltimore Sun: July 22, 1990; March 3, 1996.
Beverly Hills Times (CA): February 18, 1965. Boston Globe: June 5, 1992.
Charlotte Observer (NC): November 8, 1970.
Chicago Tribune: July 10, 2000.
Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre, PA): January 31, 2013.
Daily Californian (Berkeley): February 23, 2012.
Daily Times (Davenport, IA): April 2, 1937; July 22, July 31, 1941; April 6, 1959.
Daily Times (Salisbury, MD): February 11, 2012.
Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA): February 11, 2012.
Dispatch (Moline, IL): July 22, 1941; May 8, 1969; February 11, 2012.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: November 3, 1963.
Fresno Bee (CA): October 29, November 19, 1972; September 28, 1986; February 28, 1988; November 4, 1990; March 16, 1993; March 5, 1995; October 25, November 20, 2008; January 7, 2009.
Hobbs Daily News-Sun (NM): November 29, 1966.
Honolulu Advertiser: February 4, 1993; July 17, 2005.
Independent Coast Observer (Gualala, CA): October 7, December 2, 2011.
Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA): March 20, 1960; March 18, 1962; October 1, 1972; January 11, 1976.
Independent Star-News (Pasadena, CA): August 6, August 9, 1967; April 7, 1968.
Kansas City Star (MO): March 26, 1967; November 11, November 18, 1973.
LA Weekly (CA): September 4, 1989; June 13, 1991; March 26, 1994.
Lawrence Daily Journal-World (KS): March 17, 1967.
Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA): February 11, 2012.
Lincoln Journal Star (NE): June 3, 2007. Lincoln Star (NE): May 5, 1985.
Los Angeles Times: November 24, 1957; December 27, 1959; February 21, July 31, 1960; October 1, 1961; September 23, October 14, October 26, 1962; July 21, August 11, 1963; January 19, 1964; February 14, February 19, 1965; June 12, June 17, September 11, 1966; February 17, October 15, October 23, October 25, November 12, 1967; August, 29, 1968; October 30, 1970; January 15, January 17, January 22, February 28, April 5, 1971; May 11, May 13, 1973; January 18, January 19, February 2, February 6, October 3, October 31, 1976; September 25, 1977; January 1, 1984; February 2, February 10, 1986; September 29, December 10, December 15, 1989; March 11, 1990; September 3, 1994; March 3, November 16, 1996; November 15, 2007. Modesto Bee (CA): December 17, 1989. Monitor (McAllen, TX): May 1, 2009. Morning Call (Allentown, PA): September 23, 1990. Mountain Democrat (Placerville, CA): December 11, 2015. New Mexican (Santa Fe): October 18, 1970; October 19, 1975. News Journal (Wilmington, DE): October 28, 1990.
New York Herald Tribune: February 1961.
New York Times: October 2, 1958; February 10, 1961; June 25, 1964; October 12, 1968; August 29, 1990; May 27, 2016.
North East Bay Independent and Gazette (Berkeley, CA): April 17, 1980.
Oakland Tribune: December 14, 1958; February 18, September 30, 1968; March 19, 1978.
Odessa American (TX): September 27, 1992. Philadelphia Daily News: October 5, 1990.
Philadelphia Inquirer: October 14, 1990; February 11, 2012.
Pomona Progress Bulletin (CA): September 29, October 3, October 13, 1958.
Portland Reporter (OR): December 21, 1964.
Press-Tribune (Roseville, CA): August 28, 1972.
Republican and Herald (Pottsville, PA): February 13, 2012.
Sacramento Bee: October 16, 1958; May 24, December 27, 1959; January 31, May 29, June 19, July 24, 1960; February 5, 1961; June 27, December 12, 1965; February 20, February 27, September 18, October 2, 1966; August 3, December 7, 1969; June 16, August 18, September 10, September 11, December 31, 1972; June 27, July 7, 1976; December 31, 1989; September 2, November 18, 1990; April 23, 2000; March 5, 2004; February 20, March 13, September 11, October 16, December 25, 2005; June 23, July 2, 2006; January 1, May 16, October 24, November 5, 2010; April 1, April 17, 2011; April 27, 2012; September 4, December 4, 2015.
San Diego Union: February 24, 1963.
San Francisco Chronicle: May 20, 1972; September 8, 1985; January 21, 1986; January 19, February 21, 1987; December 13, December 15, 1989; January 17, 1990; September 23, 1992; April 24, 1993; September 6, September 28, December 17, 2002; September 24, 2004; March 4, 2005; January 28, 2006; January 27, December 15, 2008; May 16, June 14, 2009; February 18, 2010; October 2, 2011; February 10, 2012; October 3, 2020.
San Francisco Examiner: May 19, 1957; October 25, November 1, 1964; October 10, 1968; April 30, September 6, 1972; July 22, 1973; May 16, 1975; November 29, 1976; June 9, 1980; April 5, April 26, 1981; December 8, 1985; January 11, January 12, July 19, 1987; December 1, December 10, December 13, 1989; September 16, 1990; March 29, November 1, 1992; October 19, 1994; February 4, February 11, July 28, 1996; January 12, 1997; August 23, September 6, 1998; October 17, October 24, October 31, 1999; January 2, April 2, September 10, 2002; February 12, July 21, 2008; September 24, 2009; September 15, 2011; April 17, 2012.
Santa Barbara News-Press (CA): January 19, 1964.
Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA): December 29, 1976; January 4, 1981; October 29, November 5, 1982; March 4, 1996.
Santa Maria Times (CA): September 23, 1972.
Times-News (Twin Falls, ID): February 10, 1984. Valley News (Van Nuys, CA): December 10, 1964.
Victoria Advocate (TX): November 2, 1982.
Unpublished and Archival Sources
Charles Campbell Gallery. Files. Steven A. Lopez and Eric Koehler Archives. Chambers, Nancy S. “William Theo Brown and Paul Wonner.” Davis, CA: Pence Gallery, 1976. Heysinger, Shirley. “William Theo Brown.” Lecture introduction, 1969. Figge Art Museum archives, Davenport, Iowa.
Mills, Paul. “The Figure Reappears: The Art of David Park and Bay Area Figurative Painting from 1950 to 1960.” Master’s thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1962.
“Theo Brown Diaries, 1893-1971.” George C. Gordon Library, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts.
Theophilus Brown. Conversation with Kevin Kearney. July 6, 2000. 2 CDs.
William Theophilus Brown. Interview with Everett Erlandson. July 8, 1994. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, San Francisco.
William Theophilus Brown. Interview by Jonathan Weinberg. August 23-24, 2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Unpublished and Archival Sources (cont.)
“William Theo Brown Papers.” Reels 887, 921, 1095, 1116. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
“William Theophilus Brown, 1964-1991.” Richard Diebenkorn Foundation Archives, rdfa_1a_b01f25.
Cover: Portrait of Shawn (detail), 1970
Rear Cover: Self Portrait (detail), 1998
Copyright 2025 Paul Thiebaud Gallery. All Rights Reserved. Images copyright 2025 Estate of Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA. Essay copyright 2025 Lavinia Wolf.
Design: Greg Flood and Matthew Miller.
Figure 1: photographer unknown, courtesy William Theophilus Brown Papers.
Figure 2: photographer unknown, courtesy William Theophilus Brown Papers.
Figure 3: courtesy Roy Allen Wood.
All other images, photo: Matthew Miller.
No portion of this document may be reproduced or stored without the express written permission of the copyright holder(s).
PAUL THIEBAUD GALLERY