Brown Paintings by Men
Google search ‘Brown paintings by men’ - including suggested categories that include racially hostile ‘African’ and inexplicably ‘beard’
My work is very brown currently, which is not deliberate. The compost and Earthly goo I have been studying is brown so that is where it began but the processes of ruination have taken me down a path of brown and grey and other muted, Earthly tones. I was struck by the Victor Hugo drawings being all so magnificently brown, such commitment and enthusiasm for the brown. I consider myself blue, I am sure if they ever dig up my old bones they will find them speckled with blue paint and find indigo dye stagnating in my deceased veins. But yet all my work is brown currently and I thinking about the great history of brown paintings and wondering what the role of the brown has been.
There are of course brown paintings by women, Cecily Brown who has brown in her name and googling ‘brown paintings by women’ seems to just stir up racially insulting pictures of darker skinned women (possibly by men) so perhaps more helpful searches would be either ‘brown paintings’ (assuming they’re all by men) or ‘paintings of brown women’ (assuming they’re by men too). This is a bit of a tangent but I am finding it interesting to casually stroll through the images most considered to be simply ‘brown paintings’ and what their associations might be. I am moved as far one can be by the Admonitions Scroll (which is technically a brown painting most probably by a man) and its dominant brownness, which was likely not originally painted on brown silk but has brown/yellowed with time suggesting the interest is rooted in ageing processes and decay, which is of no particular surprise.
Personally I remember a lot of brown from my childhood, I think the 70s had a bit of a love affair with brown and my mother apparently had overwhelming nesting instincts just before I was born and painted the whole flat chocolate brown at eight and a half months pregnant, which she predictably regretted when reunited with her sanity a few weeks later. Many of the photos of me as a child featured a fat little person resembling an underdone pork sausage stuffed into brown turtlenecks and mustard cords. Perhaps this nostalgia, particularly thinking about the Tiny Apocalypse is feeding my curiosity around the brown.
Ruination is steeped in brownness and natural processes, a connection to all the Earthly things I have been so preoccupied with. It all signifies warmth and stability although ChatGPT helpfully reminds also is somewhat mundane and dull, lacking vivacity (ironically being so closely associated with nature) and frankly a bit boring. I think that’s generally true but not helpful here. My interest in indigo has been much clearer, its history and usage, the fact that I love it and all the positive associations I have with it, as well as the fascinating relationship it has with current perspectives on autochthonous dyeing processes and ancient arts using indigo. Brown is a more elusive beast for me however and I have always been interested but less overtly. In DCS last week Catherine talked about her A-level work and I recalled all of my A-level paintings were basically about ruination and were all, you guessed it, brown. I made paintings of radiator rust although I cannot for the life of me remember why.
Admonition Scroll shown at the British Museum in July 2025. It is usually in storage due to light damage concerns. I first saw this in 1995 as part of my Camberwell Foundation course.