W. Theophilus Brown | Figurative painter, 92
William Theophilus Brown, 92, a painter who enjoyed success for more than a half-century and was closely associated with the San Francisco Bay area's figurative movement, died Wednesday at his apartment in San Francisco.
William Theophilus Brown, 92, a painter who enjoyed success for more than a half-century and was closely associated with the San Francisco Bay area's figurative movement, died Wednesday at his apartment in San Francisco.
Mr. Brown was part of the movement that art historians recognize as a period during the mid-20th century when artists moved away from extreme abstractionism and included some realism in their portraits, landscapes, and still-lifes.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco are among the institutions that exhibit Mr. Brown's paintings.
He was born in Illinois and trained at Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Brown, who professionally went by the name Theophilus, had his first solo exhibition at the Felix Landau Gallery in 1957.
A year earlier, Life published three of his paintings featuring football players in motion.
Mr. Brown's partner of nearly 50 years, the artist Paul Wonner, died in 2008. - AP