Uploaded April 2013 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This video profiles Frederick Brown, one of America's most prolific expressionist painters, who counts President Bill Clinton among his most ardent supporters.
During the sixties and Seventies, Brown's Soho loft studio in New York served as a gathering place for artists, musicians, writers, dancers and other creative personalities. Brown's mural portraits, which combine his interest in African American and Native American culture, primitive folk art and European religious art, are noted for a distinctly bold style that bridges cultures and honors the human spirit.
His works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the White House.
The video features comments by longtime colleagues about the artist, his colorful and forceful personality, and his famous studio, plus footage recorded over a thirty-year period of Brown at work on various paintings and preparing major exhibitions.
Among the latter are a 1988 exhibition in Beijing (Brown was the first Western artist to have a one-man exhibition in China), the ambitious 'History of Art' exhibit (from cave painting to the twentieth century), the two-story tall "Assumption of Mary" mural, and an exhibit of 350 portraits of major jazz musicians.
DVD, NTSC
Year 2002
Length 58 mins.
DVD available from
Europe, UK: artfilms.co.uk/Detail.aspx?ItemID=4281
US, Australia, World: http://www.artfilms.com.au/Detail.aspx?ItemID=4281
STREAMING: artfilms-digital.com
This video profiles Frederick Brown, one of America's most prolific expressionist painters, who counts President Bill Clinton among his most ardent supporters.
During the sixties and Seventies, Brown's Soho loft studio in New York served as a gathering place for artists, musicians, writers, dancers and other creative personalities. Brown's mural portraits, which combine his interest in African American and Native American culture, primitive folk art and European religious art, are noted for a distinctly bold style that bridges cultures and honors the human spirit.
His works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the White House.
The video features comments by longtime colleagues about the artist, his colorful and forceful personality, and his famous studio, plus footage recorded over a thirty-year period of Brown at work on various paintings and preparing major exhibitions.
Among the latter are a 1988 exhibition in Beijing (Brown was the first Western artist to have a one-man exhibition in China), the ambitious 'History of Art' exhibit (from cave painting to the twentieth century), the two-story tall "Assumption of Mary" mural, and an exhibit of 350 portraits of major jazz musicians.
DVD, NTSC
Year 2002
Length 58 mins.
DVD available from
Europe, UK: artfilms.co.uk/Detail.aspx?ItemID=4281
US, Australia, World: http://www.artfilms.com.au/Detail.aspx?ItemID=4281
STREAMING: artfilms-digital.com
