Joan Brown Jacquelynn Bass.Pdf
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CAT.NO. ++ Th e Bride, 197o. .... - -- --- TO KNOW THII PLACE FOR THE FIRIT TIME r;JJ/YJUJIZI JAC QUELYNN BAAS Myself, in an endless succession ofrole s, the things that are fJart of my daily life are the best vehicles I can use to express what l fee l aboid myself, my ex fJeri ence. 1 1 war/, from both the conscious and unconscious states, hoping for a balance of both, which I suspect rarely happens. The images, ideas and techniques in my pictures only sen1e to reflect my thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, relationships with other people and my daily percefJtion of the environment I exist in. 2 - Joan Brown Th e art of Joan Brown was re lentl essly focused on herse lf, and , more than anyo ne, Elmer Bisc hoff, who "talked my her world, and the discove ry of a metaphys ical reality that language, although I hadn't hea rd it before."4 By thi s, could help her organize her experience and existence. In Brown mea nt more than just an artisti c language, al this single-minded pursuit of her own psychologica l and th ough Bisc hoff was clea rl y a stylistic influence on her: spiritual developmen t through her art, Brown was at odds "cl own deep, psyc hically, I never got the kind of energies both with th e existenti alist outl ook of th e artist fr iends or connections that I go t from Elm er." 5 T hey shared an of her yo uth and with the political, ironi c, and reducti ve in terest in meta ph ys ics and mys ti cism, an interes t that perspec ti ves that came to dominate the art wo rld after never found expli cit express ion in Bischoff's art and that th e mid 1960s.' Throughout her life, Brown studi ed phi Brown fe lt free to express in her wo rk onl y afte r 1969, losophy and reli gion , with a foc us on uni versal theme when th e un ex pected dea th of her fa ther and th e sui and symbols. She integrated a number of these symbols cide of her mother opened th e door to a new emotional into her personal iconograph y, for whi ch her own uncon freedom. cious also se rved as an important source. Brown's early Bisc hoff taught Brown to focus on what was aro und ar ti sti c idols we re Rembrandt and Goya, with their psy her. "When I ge t too far out with what I'm doing and no chologica ll y revealing portra its and self-portra its (see ca t. longer have any handle, I go back and wo rk from what 1 no . 69, p. 118) . But her mature work shows grea ter affini ty can see and what I know, what I am familia r wi th and it with th e willfull y prim iti ve, enigmati c paintings of Paul gro unds me and roots me," she to ld an interviewer in Gauguin, whose art she also admi red (see cat. no. 59, p. 1985. 6 Even in her later work, whi ch is heavi ly sy mbolic, 106). Like Gaugu in , Brown developed a personal artisti c an occasional pa inting appears that was cl ea rl y clon e di language whose idiosy ncra ti c sy mboli c voca bu lary wa rec tl y fr om life- li ke The Cypress Trees (ca t. no. 102) and drawn from wide-ranging cultural traditi ons, from art his th e simple, charming Portrait ofToby the Cat (cat. no. 103, tor y, and from her imaginati on. p. 90), both from 1980. In ge neral, however, Brown's em Joan Brown bega n in th e mid 1950s as a ve ry young art phasis on the im po rtance of the unconscious in her pro ist whose art refl ected and developed the styles of her cess of making ar t, and her mysti ca l attitude towa rd life, mentors: David Park, Frank Lobd ell , Na than Oli ve ira, an attitude that seems to have ex isted from an ea rl y age: 11:19 CAT. o. 102. Th e Cypress Trees, 1980 . 190 JACQUELYNN BAAS allow for a ge nerously interpretive reading of art from ofth ese pieces are starting to relate and fonn a whole. every period of her ca reer. Part of my interest in the ancient cu ltures, the main Indeed, Brown herself engaged in ongoing interpreta- part, is this spirituality. Yea rs ago it was th e art. I spent tion of her work: a lot ofti me studying the symbolism ... and the con cept: what do symbols mean in the crossovers between I don't mind at all if my work is not perceived as I the ancient cultures. 11 "think" I intended. Very often I don't know what I in tended nor does that question frequently occur to me in What might a study of th e sy mbolism of Joa n Brown the fJroc ess ofconceiving and/o r executing a work ofart. yield? What do her sy mbols mean in the "crossovers" I've also found that sometimes, when I'm working on a among her researches into art and ancient bel ief systems, painting I'll think my intentions to be such, only to her changing concepts of herself, her relati onships with change my mind about the original intentions at a others, and her ongoing sea rch for th e meaning of life? In later date. 8 order to investigate this qu es ti on, I ha ve chosen to focus on one work-The Bride (ca t. no. 44, p. 188) , painted in Brown was resolutely democra ti c in her openness to inter the spring of 1970 -and to use it as a fu lcrum, a kind of pretation, stating frequen tl y that "art is for everybody," home base from which to expl ore some of Brown's most and that she was as interes ted in the response to her work meaningful symbolism. of ordinary people as of ar tists and critics. "I work with sy mbols," she told an interviewer in 1985. "My work is rep The yea r 1970 was a year of prodigious crea tivity for the resentati onal but also very sy mboli c. When you work with th irty-two-year-old artist, and a yea r of grea t technical ex symbols, you leave yo urself open, naturall y, to people's perimentation as well. On Hall oween 1968 she had mar interpretati ons, unless th e sy mbols are real cut-a nd-dried ri ed fell ow painter Gordon Cook, her third husband . Fo r unive rsal sym bols that we are all familia r with."9 Brown, marri age-however problemati c-was a des ir Although Brown shifted her subj ec t matter every few able sta te. In 1975 she told an interviewer, ''I've been mar yea rs, some themes permea te all phases of her wo rk. Her ri ed three times. I get married. I prefer fam il y li fe .... I own life, including herself at va ri ous ages, her child, her like the stru cture of fami ly life, I like the growth and th e pets, and others she ca red about together form one leit exchange that ca n take place with a cl ose relationship . motif. A second , ve ry broad category might be call ed "the There's a certain funny ritual-as human bein gs we're other" or, as we have ca ll ed it for th e purposes of th e pres connected to rituals-where so mething happens . It's ent exhibi tion, "the wo rld ." Her resea rch in this realm was sy mbolic, and th ere's something very big, ve ry large about prodigious. Brown's library of some fifteen hundred vo l it. It's not infallible, obviously."12 A little over two months umes included books on not only art and ancient culture", after her marriage, in January 1969, Brown's alcoholic fa but also reli gion of all kinds, metaph ys ics, and mysti cism. ther died suddenly of a hea rt attack. Brown 's mother hung For Brown as for Sa int Paul , th e wo rld was made up of herself six weeks later. On th e day of her mother's dea th , things seen and things unseen. The titles of her ea rly ab Brown had a premonition that manifes ted itself as a new strac ti ons from 1959 and 1960 key us to this attitud e: titl es fee Ii ng of freedom: like Dog Dreaming of Things and Images; an abstrac t self portrait, Thing on Its 21St Birthday; and Things in Land She'd always talked ofsuic ide when I was a kid-con sca fJ e #1 (fi g. 16). The continuity of existence, th e connec stantly referring to suicide-she was go ing to go off the ti ons betwee n "things," was Brown 's ve ry un-existenti al bridge, all the time she was goi ng to jump offthe bridge. point. One of her favor ite authors was Fri tjof Capra, She'd say [whi le reading the newspaper}, "Oh, look, whose books emphas ize both th e similariti es between an here's another one off the bridge.