 |
|
BIOGRAPHY
Born
in Yonkers, New York, Byron Browne was a central figure in many
of the modernist artistic and political groups that flourished during
the 1930s in New York City. He was an early member of the Artists'
Union, a founding member in 1936 of the American Abstract Artists,
and a participant in the Artists' Congress until 1940, when political
infighting prompted Browne and others to form the breakaway Federation
of Modern Painters and Sculptors.
Browne's artistic training followed traditional lines. From 1925
to 1928, he studied at the National Academy of Design, where in
his last year he won the prestigious Third Hallgarten Prize for
a still-life composition. Yet before finishing his studies, Browne
discovered the newly established Gallery of Living Art. There and
through his friends John Graham and Arshile Gorky, he became fascinated
with Picasso, Braque, Miro, and other modern masters.
Although Browne destroyed his early academic work shortly after
leaving the National Academy, he remained steadfast in his commitment
to the value of tradition, and especially to the work of Ingres.
Browne believed, with his friend Gorky, that "Every artist
has to have tradition. Without tradition art is no good. Having
a tradition enables you to tackle new problems with authority, with
solid footing."
Increasingly in the 1940s, Browne adopted an energetic, gestural
style. Painterly brush strokes and roughly textured surfaces amplify
the primordial undercurrents posed by his symbolic and mythical
themes. In 1945 Browne showed with Adolph Gottlieb, William Baziotes,
David Hare, Hans Hofmann, Carl Holty, Romare Bearden, and Robert
Motherwell at the newly opened Samuel Kootz Gallery. When Kootz
suspended business for a year in 1948, Browne began showing at Grand
Central Galleries. In 1950, he joined the faculty of the Art Students
League, and in 1959 he began teaching advanced painting at New York
University.
|
|
|
