Henry Harris Brown


Henry Harris Brown RP was an English artist best known for his portraits of English clergy, aristocrats and American and Canadian industrialists.

Early life

Brown was born on 29 December 1864 in Northampton, England. He was the son of Lily and Henry Brown. His brother was Arthur Barrie Brown.

Career

Brown, who is sometimes credited as H. Harris Brown, studied at the Académie Julian in Paris under William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury, and exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy from 1888. He was a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters of London and was an original member of the National Society of Portrait Painters. Brown was a contemporary of the Scottish painter John Henry Lorimer, and showed alongside John Singer Sargent, George Henry, Hugh Glazebrook, Sir George Reid.
Today, his works appear in the university collections of Queen's University Belfast, Exeter College, Oxford, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Trinity College, Cambridge, Christ Church, Oxford. They also appear in several prominent properties, including Thirlestane Castle, Guildhall, Bath, National Gallery of Ireland, Museo Horne, and at National Trust properties, including Castle Ward. He is represented at the National Collection of the Luxembourg Gallery in Paris by his portrait of Mrs. Boyd of Glastry.

Exhibitions

In 1919, Knoedler Galleries on Fifth Avenue in New York City exhibited a number of his portraits, including those of Charles H. Sabin, Geraldine Miller Graham, Colonel Bishop and Mrs. William A. Slater, Jr. of Washington. At the time, The Studio described Brown's works to be "great feats of draughtsmanship, rich colouring, excellent pose and a character expressed in hands out of the ordinary. He is intensely interested not only in the actual hand, but in obtaining some attractive poses of the hands, making a beautiful picture in themselves."
In April 1922, an exhibition of fourteen portraits by Brown, thirteen of prominent men of Canada and one New York physician who was born in Nova Scotia, was held at the Fearon Galleries in New York City. Brown completed the portraits in Canada over thirty months, devoting more than a month to each individual. The sittings were held either at the subject's homes or in their offices. Among his portraits was of Canadian industrialist, Adam Brown, then 96 years old.
In January 1923, an exhibition of seventeen of his portraits was held at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy in Buffalo, New York. At the time, he had studios in Chelsea, London and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
In 1926, another exhibition of Brown's portraits was held at the Vose Galleries in Boston, Massachusetts. At the time, Frank Warren Coburn, the critic for the Boston Herald, wrote "In Mr. Brown's case, as in that of several other visiting Britons, one is impressed with his technical boldness and vigor, which contrasts with the reserve, delicacy and beauty of some of the works of our best American artists. This man's color is less delicious than theirs; his rhythm of dark and light is less subtle. He has, however, style and daring such as you would expect of a painter of the imperialists."

Portrait subjects

Clergy

Aristocrats

Others

Personal life

Brown died on 12 July 1948 at Princess Beatrice Hospital in London. At the time, he was living at The Vale, Chelsea, and was buried at St Luke's Churchyard at Duston, Northamptonshire, England.