A Texas Artist Abroad: A Selection of Early Works by Frederic Browne
September 10 - October 2, 2010
William Reaves Fine Art
A Texas Artist Abroad:
A Selection of Early Works By Frederic Browne William Reaves Fine Art inaugurates its new interior gallery, The Alcove, with an intimate exhibition of rare works by early Houston artist, Frederic Browne (1877-1966). Browne was instrumental in the development of the fine arts in Houston. He was among the city’s first professional artists, as well as a prominent art teacher and early academician within the higher education community. Arriving in the Bayou City in 1925, he joined the art faculty of Rice Institute, teaching painting and architectural drawing there until his move in 1935 to become the head of the art department at the University of Houston. Browne also taught concurrently at the Museum School from 1927 8. Church St. Savine, France until 1940. He retired from his administrative duties at UH in 1950, but continued to teach at the university until his death in 1966.
Working in Houston, Frederic Browne was highly acclaimed as an artist and exhibited frequently during his lifetime. He showed regularly in the Houston Annuals from 1926-1951. He was a prize winner in the 1927 Exhibition of Texas Artists at the Nashville Museum of Art, and his paintings were also included in Annual Texas Artists Circuit Exhibitions of 1929-1932. In 1936, the artist showed works in the Texas Centennial Exposition (Dallas), as well as the National Exhibition of American Art (New York). Browne also participated in the Pan American Exposition in Dallas and the Exhibitions of Southeast Texas Artists, both in 1937. He received three one-man exhibitions at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1928, 1934 and 1944), and in 1967, the University of Houston conducted a memorial exhibition of the artist’s work.
Frederic Browne was born in Belfast, Ireland and grew up in Philadelphia. He attended the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Arts, as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He studied subsequently at the Academie Julian, the Academie Colarossi and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. Browne married in Paris in 1919. As his bride was a native of the city, the artist was obliged to return to Paris and the south of France often to visit his wife’s family there, as well as to sketch and paint. While building an accomplished career over the ensuing forty years in his adopted city of Houston, Browne maintained an affinity for Paris and the French countryside, painting impressionist scenes that became the hallmark of his oeuvre.
William Reaves Fine Art is pleased to afford Houstonians this opportunity to reconnect with the work of Frederic Browne. While one of the city’s most significant artists of the twentieth century, his paintings have been virtually unknown since 1967. This exhibition showcases many of Browne’s most important works from a period of about 1927 to 1940, featuring his beautifully rendered impressions of travels to France, as well as Tunisia, in North Africa. The assembled works clearly demonstrate his excellent facility as an artist, and also show the influences of both his Pennsylvania and Paris instruction. Browne’s choice of subject matter and composition convey his continued inspiration from both American and French impressionism.
Considering these works within the context of early Texas art, and particularly earlier Houston art, Browne’s renderings possess historical significance with regard to the evolution of subject matter in early Texas painting. While today many Texas collectors prefer indigenous Texas themes, these works reference the fact that not all Texas artists of the period painted Texasbased subject matter. In this sense, Browne’s work underscores the international influences which have particularly characterized Houston culture and art from its 12. Old Church, Brittany, France very beginnings. Houston artists of the twenties and thirties (and beyond) were seldom reluctant to paint scenes beyond the borders of the Lone Star State, nor for that matter, scenes from countries beyond the forty-eight states! It is interesting to consider The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s decision to mount Frederic Browne’s first one-man show of French scenes in 1928, at the zenith of Texas wildflower painting. We are left to wonder what was at play in the curatorial minds of museum professionals that caused them to incorporate Browne’s exhibition into a 1928 program which 4. Chauvigny France featured one-man shows of Julian Onderdonk’s bluebonnets, Everett Gee Jackson’s oils and prize-winning paintings of Texas life from the Davis Competitions in San Antonio. Later on, in 1936, it is interesting to consider the
jurists’ selection of Browne’s Chauvigny, France as his entry into the state’s Centennial Exposition, juxtaposed against regionalist works of fellow Texans such as Everett Spruce, Jerry Bywaters and Alexandre Hogue. These instances seem to beg the question as to whether Frederic Browne’s preference for European subject matter and impressionist style make him and his art less “Texan” than those of his contemporaries. Apparently the artist’s work was not dismissed as such by his peers. Certainly this conundrum will be debated among the enthusiasts of early Texas art, and is part of the fun in our mounting this exhibition. We welcome thoughts on the matter! However, it is our position that Frederic Browne’s impressionist paintings of the French countryside are as paramount to the development of Texas art as the wildflower painters of San Antonio or the regionalist painters of Dallas. To us, it is both refreshing and illuminating to remember that early Texas artists were actively studying and traveling the world, importing both technique and foreign imagery into the rich mosaic that is Texas art. We invite your renewed attention to this selection of beautiful paintings by one of Texas’ earliest artists abroad!
-William Reaves, Sarah Beth Wilson, Leslie Thompson, and Steve Gaskin
Artist Bio: Frederic Browne Selected Biographical and Career Highlights • • • • • • •
1877, Born in Belfast, Ireland, raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1919, Studies at Academie Julian, the Academie Colarossi and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, France 1925, Art faculty at Rice Institute (now Rice University) 1935, Head of Art Department at University of Houston 1927-1940, Art Instructor at Houston Museum School of Fine Arts (now Glassell School) 1950, Retires from administrative duties at University of Houston but continues to teach 1966, Dies at Houston residence
Selected Exhibitions • • • • • • •
1926-1951, Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Houston, TX 1927, Exhibition of Texas Artists, Nashville Museum of Art, Nashville, TN 1928, 1934, and 1940, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX 1936, Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas, TX 1936, National Exhibition of American Art, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY 1937, Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition, Dallas, TX 1939, Annual Southeat Texas Artists Exhibition, Houston, TX
Selected Collections • •
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX A. H. Lawrence Williams House, Houston, TX
Exhibition Checklist Artist
Title
Date
Medium
Size (inches)
1. Browne
A Garden in France
n/d
casein/paper
12x9
2. Browne
Bridge over River
n/d
oil/canvas
17x14
3. Browne
Castle Above Rooftops
n/d
oil/canvas
28x24
4. Browne
Chauvigny France
1936
oil/canvas
25x30
5. Browne
French Countryside with Bridge
n/d
oil/canvas
24x28
6. Browne
Steepled Building on Street
n/d
oil/canvas
18x15
7. Browne
Church on the Street with Shade Trees
n/d
oil/canvas
18x15
8. Browne
Church St. Savine, France
n/d
oil/canvas
24x30
9. Browne
Church with Bridge
n/d
oil/canvas
27x36
10. Browne
North African Interior Scene
n/d
oil/canvas
24x36
11. Browne
North African Street Scene
n/d
oil/canvas
20x32
12. Browne
Old Church, Brittany, France
n/d
oil/canvas
24 1/4x32
13. Browne
Old House, Pont Aven, France
n/d
oil/canvas
32x24 1/4
14. Browne
Brooklyn Bridge (as Untitled - Seaport)
c.1928
oil/canvas
21x25
1. A Garden in France, n/d casein/paper 12x9 inches
2. Bridge Over River, n/d oil/canvas 17x14 inches
3. Castle Above Rooftops, n/d oil/canvas 28x24 inches
4. Chauvigny France, 1936 oil/canvas 25x30 inches
5. French Countryside with Bridge, n/d oil/canvas 24x28 inches
6. Steepled Building on Street, n/d oil/canvas 18x15 inches
7. Church on the Street with Shade Trees , n/d oil/canvas 18x15 inches
8. Church St. Savine, France, n/d oil/canvas 24x30 inches
9. Church with Bridge, n/d oil/canvas 27x36 inches
10. North African Interior Scene, n/d oil/canvas 24x36 inches
11. North African Street Scene, n/d oil/canvas 20x32 inches
12. Old Church, Brittany, France, n/d oil/canvas 24 1/4x32 inches
13. Old House, Pont Aven, France, n/d oil/canvas 32x24 1/4 inches
14. Brooklyn Bridge (As Untitle- Seaport), c. 1928 oil/canvas 21x25 inches
Houston’s Gallery for Early Texas Art
2313 Brun Street • Houston, Texas 77019 • (713) 521-7500 • www.reavesart.com