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Lot Essay
Although she was almost twenty years younger than her peers, Joan Brown began making mature work at a very young age in the late 1950s, of which the present lot is an extraordinary example. Brown studied under many important painters, including Ralph Ducasse who owned this painting for many years. She was also a student of Frank Lobdell and Elmer Bischoff, and her early work shows the latter's influence, but has Brown's own brash color sense and juicy paint handling.
A precocious artist, at the age of nineteen she exhibited at the legendary "6" Gallery, a touchstone for Beat poets and visual artists. She was included in the Young America exhibition at the Whitney in 1960, and in numerous shows at the noted Staempfli Gallery in New York in the early 1960's.
Joan Brown was a neighbor of Jay De Feo at the time, and the painting appears to be a portrait of that legendary San Francisco artist.
A precocious artist, at the age of nineteen she exhibited at the legendary "6" Gallery, a touchstone for Beat poets and visual artists. She was included in the Young America exhibition at the Whitney in 1960, and in numerous shows at the noted Staempfli Gallery in New York in the early 1960's.
Joan Brown was a neighbor of Jay De Feo at the time, and the painting appears to be a portrait of that legendary San Francisco artist.