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Joan Brown

Heinz Galleries May 27–Sept. 24, 2023
Installation views of Joan Brown at Carnegie Museum of Art, 2023; video: Max Cianci

This exhibition is the first major survey of Joan Brown (American, 1938–1990) in over 20 years, and offers a compelling look at the prolific career of a painter known for her large-scale, high-key portraits of family, animals, and herself.

Organized chronologically, Joan Brown presents 44 objects, including paintings and sculptures, and traces the depth and evolution of the artist’s 35-year career as a painter, starting with her art school days in 1950s San Francisco to her premature death at age 52. While Brown focused on abstraction in the late 1950s, her paintings took on a charming and fantastical figurative style later in her career.

The playful, imaginative, and autobiographical work of Joan Brown draws inspiration from a variety of sources to create a charmingly offbeat body of work that embraces whimsy and weightier themes. Driven by a deep and lifelong curiosity, her later works showcase an ever-expanding symbology as she pursued a more spiritual, metaphysical path.

Joan Brown is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition is curated by Janet Bishop, Thomas Weisel Family Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA, and Nancy Lim, Associate Curator, Painting and Sculpture, SFMOMA. Carnegie Museum of Art’s presentation is organized by Liz Park, Richard Armstrong Curator of Contemporary Art at Carnegie Museum of Art with Cynthia Stucki, curatorial assistant for contemporary art and photography.

Exhibition Images

women in the show by Joan Brown. A dog is also showering with her.
Joan Brown, Woman Preparing for a Shower, 1975, Courtesy di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, California
Dancers in the city by Joan Brown. Features a women dancing with the outline of a man as music as music notes flow. A dog is also nearby
Joan Brown, The Dancers in a City #2, 1972, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Alfred E. Heller, © Estate of Joan Brown; photograph: Katherine Du Tiel
A painting depicts a high-back chair facing a wall. A woman’s leg wearing a sock and ballet flat hangs over the arm of the chair. On the wall, a painting is hung depicting a group of horsemen in a desert.
Joan Brown, The Room, Pt. 1, 1975, Carnegie Museum of Art, Gifts of Paul Chanin, Samuel Kootz, and Dr. and Mrs. Laibe A. Kessler, by exchange, © 1975 Estate of Joan Brown
Noel in the Kitchen by Joan Brown. Features two dogs and a child in a kitchen
Joan Brown, Noel in the Kitchen, 1964, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bequest of Dale C. Crichton, © Estate of Joan Brown; photograph: Katherine Du Tiel
A women wearing a cat mask wearing lingerie
Joan Brown, Woman Wearing Mask, 1972, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Audrey Taylor Strohl, © Estate of Joan Brown; photograph: Katherine Du Tiel
The bridge, features a person wearing a bridal gown wearing a cat mask
Joan Brown, The Bride, 1970, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Bequest of Earl David Peugh III

Support

Significant support for the exhibition has been provided by the Susan J. and Martin G. McGuinn Exhibition Fund.

Carnegie Museum of Art’s exhibition program is supported by the Carnegie Museum of Art Exhibition Fund and The Fellows of Carnegie Museum of Art.

Carnegie Museum of Art is supported by The Heinz Endowments and Allegheny Regional Asset District. Carnegie Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Premier Partners

Highmark and the Alleghany Health Network Nova Chemicals