Stephen Brown

Stephen Pat Brown (1950-2009)

“A Hartford Biography”

© Gary W. Knoble, 2015

Brown was an exceptional painter and a revered teacher at the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford from 1988 until his untimely death in 2009. Born in the “wild west”, he was proud of his western heritage but the “Colorado Cowboy” easily settled into a quintessential New England existence with his family in an 18th century farmhouse in Granby, Massachusetts. He taught and painted until shortly before his death.

Stephen Pat Brown was born in 1950 in Greeley, Colorado, the son of Carl A. Brown, a baker, and Mildred L. VanBeber, a homemaker and amateur artist. He was proud of his western heritage. Walter Hall, a personal friend during his years in Hartford wrote in the catalogue for Brown’s posthumous retrospective at the University of Hartford in 2012, “He (Stephen) described annual ‘wild mustang drives’ thundering through the streets of Greeley, his home town. Wild horses, driven by the hundreds from the mountains to the west by cowboys on horseback, passed in front of his house so stampede-like that all the kids were herded inside for protection, to witness the dusty fury from the windows and doorways, mother close at hand.”

He attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and obtained a BA in 1972. In 1969 he attended the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria. After graduating, in 1972 he studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Drawing in New York City, where he met the noted painter Alice Neel. Neel encouraged him to move to New York City, which he did and managed to become a studio assistant for Neel in 1973.

In 1975 he returned briefly to Colorado for treatment of Hodgkin’s disease, which had been diagnosed when he was 15.

Returning to New York, he attended Brooklyn College, where he studied under Philip Pearlstein. In the 2012 catalogue Pearlstein wrote, “I met Stephen in the late 1970’s when I was working as a member of the faculty at Brooklyn College and Stephen was studying in the graduate program. I remember him as tall and lanky, rather cheerful and relaxed, self-confident, but unassertive…….the still forming art movement called back then ‘New Realism’-as opposed to ‘Photorealism’ or even ‘Super-Realism’ had a very strong new recruit.” At Brooklyn College he met his future wife Gretchen Treitz who was also a student there. He stayed at Brooklyn College for an extra year so he and Gretchen could leave school at the same time. Lennart Anderson, a close friend who met him when he was a student, wrote in the 2012 catalogue, “I remember him posing for the drawing class one day when we did not have a model. He was perfectly capable of removing his clothes and posing for the class, even though they were all his friends.” He obtained an MFA from Brooklyn College in 1980. During his time in New York, his friends included Lois Dodd, Paul Geroges, Leland Beill, Gabriel Laderman, Rachstraw Downs, and Paul Resika.

After a brief time in Pennsylvania, he and Gretchen moved to Hartford, Connecticut where he began teaching at the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. The family lived in nearby Granby, Massachusetts. His son Rushton was born there in 1989. Lennart Anderson wote, “I remember Stephen Brown and his wife Gretchen living in their 18th century farmhouse in Massachusetts. It was a gorgeous home with a fireplace in the kitchen that you could park a station wagon in. The ceilings were low and I often thought of Stephen in Revolutionary garb with his head scraping the ceiling. He was painting at the back of the house, in some barns that were constructed one after another. He kept trying to get one that was perfect; I think he finally did.”

Brown taught at the Hartford Art School from 1988 until his death in 2009. He received Coffin Grants from the University of Hartford in 1991 and 1993. His passion became teaching which is evident from the many tributes he has received from his students and colleagues. Lisa Gaumond, Managing Director of the Joseloff and Silpe Galleries wrote, ”Stephen was an exceptional painter, no one can argue that point, but as a teacher he was truly memorable, a significant figure in the lives of his students. You can sense this in their consistently glowing statements and tributes. They were in awe of this cowboy, this rebel who loved his family so dearly and who needed to create art as much as he needed to breath.” Sam McKinniss, a student whose portrait Brown painted in 2008, wrote, “He was a keenly sensitive artist, humble, quiet. He believed in observation as revelation, in tradition, in western art history, in men, in women, in his kids. When we learned of his illness, Stephen made no secret of it, and made his struggle for wellness a classroom teaching aid. It was heartbreaking and it still is.” Another student, Sarah Paolucci, wrote, “He was an amazing teacher and I am a better artist because of him, as are many who have attended the Hartford Art School. HAS will never be the same. His beauty and legacy live on in his paintings.” In the 2012 catalogue Paolucci wrote, “There have been many art teachers in my life. The so-so teachers show you how to do it, the good teachers teach you how to be better using what they know, but the great ones teach you how to see. Stephen Brown was one of those teacher.” Kyle Phillips, a student, wrote, “Stephen was enthusiastic and used his whole being to teach, physically and emotionally. Because he was so tall and thin, his mannerisms were pronounced and sometimes he would lean so far into a painting to point out a detail I would worry he would lean back with paint on his nose. I think he was so passionate about painting that it had hurt him at times in his life. I am not sure he wanted that for us. Thus, he encouraged us to push ourselves but never overworked us. In his classes we took mandatory breaks, and if the model was late he would bring us outside and we would relax in the sunlight or play Frisbee. He loved Frisbee was damn good at it. “

In 1992 he had a one-person exhibition at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut and his daughter Hannah was born. In 1993-1994 he was given a show at the New Britain Museum of American Art entitled, “Stephen Brown: Lands and Friends”. In 1999 he became and Academician of the National Academy of Design. In 2002 he had a show entitled. “All Outdoors: Landscapes in Oil”, at the 100 Pearl Street Gallery in Hartford.

Brown suffered a stroke in 2005, but recovered enough to continue teaching and was named a full professor in 2007. He taught until shortly before he died in Hartford Hospital on October 21, 2009. He is buried in the Silver Street Cemetery in Granville, Massachusetts.

After his death, the Hartford Art School established the “Stephen Brown Memorial Scholarship” that was first awarded in 2012. In August-October of 2012, the Art School mounted a retrospective exhibition of his works accompanied by a catalogue entitled “Stephen Brown: Legacy.” At the same time, Brick Walk Fine Art in West Hartford, an early exhibitor of Brown’s work, also held an exhibition.

Brown’s paintings are in many private collections and museums including the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut, and the Springfield Museum of Art.

Hartford Courant, Obituary, 10/23/2009

Joseloffgallery.org, “About Stephen Brown”,

Phillips, Kyle, “My memories of Stephen Brown”, 2015 (unpublished)

Stephenbrownart.com

“Stephen Brown: Legacy”, Joseloff Gsllery, University of Hartford Art School, 2012