I was able to spend the day yesterday at Jack’s Richmond Street studio documenting the remain works and collecting more of his papers in preparation for its eventual (and immanent) closure. As a result of this work I will be uploading a significant amount of new content over the next two to three weeks. While most of the works that are still in the studio were known to me and have already been included in the catalogue, there were a few Grimm series painting that I had not yet documented and a number of old works that I am excited to add to the catalogue. These later include some of Brown’s first exhibited works. The thematic and formal evolution of his technique and subject matter that comparison between these works and the mature works (which I would date from the Human Heads Series) allow us to make is striking.
I also discovered several dozen studies, sketches, and drawings that I had not discovered before. Many are interesting in their own write, but they are also of historical importance because many remind us that Brown initially employed the traditional painterly practice of working out a compositional plan for his paintings with sketches. His latter work abandoned the preparatory sketch for the re-working-scrapping-re-working practice that became synonymous with his work. I planned to photograph them today, but my visit to the studio was prevented by the stormy, snowy weather with which December has greeted us. I hope to return to the studio between Christmas and New years in order to complete the documentary work.
As an early Christmas gift I conclude this update with this series of answers to questions posed by an interlocutor whose identity I have not been able to determine. I discovered the document in the papers that Brown stored in his apartment. Jack did not write a great deal about his work, but these answers provide unique insight into his approach and priorities.