Color crayon and pen and ink on thick wove paper, 1990. 500x305 mm; 19 5/8x12 inches. Signed and dated in pen and blue ink, lower right recto.
Ex-collection Marlborough Gallery, New York; private collection, New York.
Brown (1945-2012) was a Chicago-born, New York-based artist whose style was lossely figurative abstract expressionist. He was raised near the steel mills on Chicago's Southside and was exposed to the blues through musicians in the neighborhood such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Memphis Slim. In 1970, Brown moved to New York and began to collaborate on multi-media projects with other artists including jazz musicians. During the 1980s, he focused much of his work on creating portraits of jazz and blues musicians, including popular artists such as Ornette Coleman, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Lionel Hampton in addition to less well-known jazz and blues artists, exhibiting many of these works through Marlborough Gallery, New York.
