People, Locations, Episodes

Grafton T. Brown, Artist of Western Landscapes born

Grafton Tyler Brown

*On this date, in 1841, Grafton Tyler Brown was born. He was a Black lithographer and painter.

Born of free ancestry in Pennsylvania, Brown followed the lure of the West to California in the mid-1850s, taking part in the expansion that would change the face of the nation. He found work as a lithographer in San Francisco and, in time, formed his own business in 1866. Brown is considered the first Black professional artist in California.

His early creations illustrated and documented the settlements, gold-rush towns, and ranches in the San Francisco territories. This served as part of the commercialization of the developing nation. Although his business as a commercial draftsman was successful, Brown sold it in 1879 and 1882, leaving the Bay Area for Canada, where many Blacks found a more racially tolerant environment.

Brown turned to painting as his primary medium and began focusing on the beauty of the Canadian landscape. By 1885, the Pacific Northwest and its mountainous landscapes had inspired him to paint his most noteworthy pieces.

Brown's soft palette fills his nature-drenched vistas with awe-inspiring majesty, a quality that characterized his grand landscapes. Brown frequently included railroad tracks and ferryboats in his landscapes, which serve as subtle but poignant reminders of the encroachment of civilization. Grafton Brown died in 1918.

To be an Artist