Benjamin Brown

Benjamin Chambers Brown (July 14, 1865 – January 19, 1942) was a well-known California Impressionist landscape artist. His most notable mediums were oil, lithography and etching. Early life and education Benjamin Chambers Brown was born in Marion, Arkansas to Judge Benjamin Chambers Brown and Mary Broker Brown. He was one of their five children. He grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. His parents wanted him to become a lawyer. Brown was trained as a photographer instead. He studied at the University of Tennessee, and later at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts under Paul E. Harney and John Hemming Fry in 1884. He studied in Paris at the Académie Julian under Jean-Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in 1890. Career During his early career, Brown traveled and worked in St. Louis, Little Rock and Texas. In St. Louis, Brown taught at his own alma mater, the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, then went on to open his own school in Little Rock. He initially specialized in portraiture and still life. Upon moving to Pasadena in 1896, he began to paint landscapes. John Bentz gave him his first show in Pasadena at the Hotel Green, although He didn't sell any artwork until about 1900, but by 1905 he had become famous for his paintings of poppies. From 1909 to 1910, Brown had a studio in Mill Valley, California. He frequently held exhibitions in northern California and areas around San Francisco.