Henry Harris Brown

Henry Harris Brown RP (29 December 1864 – 12 July 1948) 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.^[1]

Career

Proclamation of the Accession to the Throne of His Majesty King George V at Dublin, June 1911

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.^[1] 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.^[2][3] Brown was a contemporary of the Scottish painter John Henry Lorimer,^[4] and showed alongside John Singer Sargent, George Henry, Hugh Glazebrook, Sir George Reid.^[5]

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.^[6] They also appear in several prominent properties, including Thirlestane Castle, Guildhall, Bath, National Gallery of Ireland, Museo Horne (Brown donated his 1908 painting of Herbert Horne to the museum in 1933),^[7] and at National Trust properties, including Castle Ward.^[8] He is represented at the National Collection of the Luxembourg Gallery in Paris by his portrait of Mrs. Boyd of Glastry.^[9]

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,^[a] Colonel Bishop and Mrs. William A. Slater, Jr. of Washington (née Madeleine Allen of New York).^[15] 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."^[16]

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.^[17] Among his portraits was of Canadian industrialist, Adam Brown, then 96 years old.^[17]

In January 1923, an exhibition of seventeen of his portraits was held at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy (today known as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum) in Buffalo, New York.^[2][18][b] At the time, he had studios in Chelsea, London and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.^[2]

In 1926, another exhibition of Brown's portraits was held at the Vose Galleries in Boston, Massachusetts.^[20] 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."^[20]

Portrait subjects

Portrait of Amy Stanton, 1894

Clergy

• The Right Rev. Edward Talbot^[21]
• The Right Rev. William Alexander^[22]
• The Right Rev. Mandell Creighton^[23]
• The Rev. William Jackson^[24]
• The Rev. Henry George Woods^[25][26]
• The Hon. Edward Lyttelton, D.D.^[27]

Aristocrats

• George Askwith, 1st Baron Askwith^[28]
• Sir William MacCormac, 1st Baronet^[29]
• Henry Ward, 5th Viscount Bangor^[8]
• Ian Maitland, 15th Earl of Lauderdale^[30]
• Grace Denison, Countess of Londesborough (née Lady Grace Fane)^[31]
• Ethel Meysey-Thompson, Lady Knaresborough (née Ethel Adeline Pottinger)^[32]

Others

• Richard B. Angus^[2]
• Herbert Horne^[33]
• Grenville Lindall Winthrop
• Charles Foxcroft^[34]
• Violet Jacob (née Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine)^[35]
• Amelia Jackson^[36]

Gallery

• 
  Amelia Jackson, 1889
• 
  Sir William MacCormac, 1st Baronet, 1897
• 
  Herbert Horne, 1908
• 
  Capt. Alastair Wardrop Euing Crawford, 1914
• 
  Ian Maitland, 15th Earl of Lauderdale, 1915
• 
  Violet Jacob

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.^[37]

References

Notes

1. Geraldine Pollock Graham (1901–1976) was the daughter of "California Oil King" William Miller Graham and the former Lee Eleanor "Birdie" Pollock of Paris, Kentucky.^[10] Geraldine was briefly engaged to Whitney Warren Jr., son of architect Whitney Warren.^[11][12] She later married Charles William Dabney Jr., Juilliard McDonald Jr.,^[13] and Disney art director James Spalding Bodrero.^[14]
2. The exhibited portraits were of Dr. George David Stewart, President of the New York Academy of Medicine, Whitney Warren Jr. (son of architect Whitney Warren), W. Emlen Roosevelt (cousin of Theodore Roosevelt), Robert Garden (father of Miss Mary Garden), Edith O'Shaughnessy (wife of Nelson O'Shaughnessy, former U.S. Secretary to Embassy in Mexico during the Wilson administration),^[19] and John Elderkin.^[2] They also showed a painting Brown had done of Richard B. Angus, who donated Temple of the Mind by the Albert P. Ryder to The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy.^[2]

Sources

1. Greenwall, Ryno (1992). Artists & Illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War. Fernwood Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-9583154-6-3. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
2. Academy, Buffalo Fine Arts (1920). Academy Notes. The Academy. p. 3. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
3. The Year's Art ...: A Concise Epitome of All Matters Relating to the Arts of Painting, Sculpture, Engraving and Architecture, and to Schools of Design, which Have Occured During the Year ... Macmillan and Company. 1923. p. 87. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
4. "Letter from John Henry Lorimer to Hannah Cassels im Thurn (née Lorimer), 14 April 1932". archives.collections.ed.ac.uk. University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
5. "La 21 Exposition d' été de la New Gallery". The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine & Applied Art. The Studio: 103. 1908. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
6. Wright, Christopher; Gordon, Catherine May (1 January 2006). British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Yale University Press. p. 914. ISBN 978-0-300-11730-1. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
7. Bertani, Licia (2001). The Horne Museum: A Florentine House of the Renaissance. Edizioni della Meridiana. p. 25. ISBN 978-88-87478-24-2. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
8. "Henry Ward (1828–1911), 5th Viscount Bangor Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) National Trust, Castle Ward". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
9. "ART NOTES.; Garden Subjects. Lecture by Maratta". The New York Times. April 22, 1917. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
10. "Mrs. Miller-Graham May Wed Again | Society Beauty in New Romance | Divorced Wife of California Oil King Reported Engaged to London Clubman, 72". The San Francisco Examiner. 2 November 1921. p. 15. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
11. "SOCIAL NOTES". The New York Times. September 24, 1920. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
12. "RIFT IN HER TROTH TO WHITNEY WARREN; Geraldine Graham, Praised by Prince of Wales as a Beauty, May Not Wed New Yorker. WEDDING ONCE POSTPONED Mrs. Wm. M. Graham, in Santa Barbara, Refuses to Affirm or Deny Report of Broken Engagement". The New York Times. April 9, 1921. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
13. New York Supreme Court Appellate Division Third Department. p. 157. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
14. Ghez, Didier (10 October 2017). They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Late Golden Age (The 1940s - Part Two). Chronicle Books. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-4521-6407-6. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
15. "Mrs. Wm. A. Slater, Jr., in Reno". The New York Times. March 23, 1920. p. 9. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
16. The International Studio | In the Galleries. John Lane Company. 1919. p. 128. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
17. "14 H. HARRIS BROWN PORTRAITS ON VIEW; Fearon Galleries Open Exhibition of Recent Works by British Painter. ALL DONE IN THIRTY MONTHS One Sitter 96 Years Old--Group Typifies Canadian Captains of Industry". The New York Times. April 9, 1922. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
18. "ART NOTES: HOME AND FOREIGN". The New York Times. 21 Jan 1923. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
19. "O'Shaughnessy family papers". archives.nypl.org. New York Public Library. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
20. "Contrasting Two Nations". Art Digest. Art Digest, Incorporated: 15. 1926. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
21. "Edward Stuart-Talbot (1844–1934), Bishop of Winchester Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Christ Church, University of Oxford". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
22. "The Most Rev. William Alexander, Protestant Bishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland". onlinecollection.hughlane.ie. Hugh Lane Gallery. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
23. "Mandell Creighton Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
24. "William Walrond Jackson (1838–1931) Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Exeter College, University of Oxford". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
25. "Henry George Woods (1842–1915), President of Trinity College Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Trinity College, University of Oxford". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
26. England), Oxford Historical Society (Oxford (1926). Oxf. Hist. Soc. Society at Clarendon Press. p. 143. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
27. "The English Point of View in Art". Fine Arts Journal: Devoted to Art, Music and Literature. Fine Arts Journal Company: 113. 1918. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
28. Heath, Alison (6 October 2015). The Life of George Ranken Askwith, 1861–1942. Routledge. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-317-32005-0. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
29. "Sir William MacCormac (1836–1901) Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Queen's University Belfast". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
30. "Ian Colin (1891–1953), 15th Earl of Lauderdale Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Thirlestane Castle". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
31. "Grace Augusta Denison (née Fane), Countess of Londesborough". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
32. "Ethel Adeline (née Pottinger), Lady Knaresborough". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
33. Molesworth, Charles (1 March 2016). The Capitalist and the Critic: J. P. Morgan, Roger Fry, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. University of Texas Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4773-0842-4. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
34. "Captain Charles Talbot Foxcroft (1868–1929) Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Bath Guildhall". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
35. "Violet Jacob Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) ANGUSalive". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
36. "Amelia Staines Shepherd Jackson (1842–1925) Henry Harris Brown (1864–1948) Exeter College, University of Oxford". artuk.org. Art UK. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
37. "Obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 29 July 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 4 September 2025.

External links

• Henry Harris Brown (1864-1948), Artist; painter at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Henry Harris Brown, 1864–1948, British, English at Art UK
• Henry Harris Brown at Hugh Lane Gallery
• Brown, Henry Harris, 1864-1948 (English painter) at the University of Edinburgh Archives Online