Peter Brown (British artist)
Encyclopedia
Life and career
Pete Brown was born in ReadingReading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
and educated at Presentation College
Presentation Brothers
The Congregation of Presentation Brothers is an international Catholic congregation of laymen founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland, by a local businessman, Edmund Ignatius Rice, now Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice....
, Reading. He graduated in fine art from Manchester Polytechnic
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
in 1990. He moved to Bath in 1993, where he lives with his wife Lisa and four children, and took up painting full-time in 1995. He developed a vigorous en plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...
style, and happily interacts with passers-by while at work. "Working is like being at a party. I need to be at the centre of things," he has said. "Consciously or subconsciously, what I experience finds its way onto the canvas."
Brown was elected a member of the New English Art Club
New English Art Club
The New English Art Club was founded in London in 1885 as an alternate venue to the Royal Academy.-History:Young English artists returning from studying art in Paris mounted the first exhibition of the New English Art Club in April 1886...
in 1998. He is represented by Messum's
Messum's
Messum's is one of the best known art galleries in Cork Street, Mayfair, a street with a concentration of art galleries in London, England. It was founded by David Messum in 1963...
in Cork Street, London, and also shows regularly at the Victoria Art Gallery
Victoria Art Gallery
The Victoria Art Gallery is free public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England.The building was designed in 1897 by John McKean Brydon, and has been designated as a Grade II listed building. The exterior of the building includes a statue of Queen Victoria, by A. C. Lucchesi, and friezes of...
, Bath. In 2006 he became the first Artist in Residence at the Savoy Hotel, London. In 2008 he won the Prince of Wales Award for Portrait Drawing.