Arthur William Brown Arthur William Brown

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Arthur William Brown /
A W Brown
(1881 - 1966)

"Brownie," as his artist friends called him, epitomizes the rule of "90% of life is just showing up." A Canadian school drop out, he worked on a steamer, sketching in his spare time (he sold these to newspapers). Saving his earnings, he enrolled at the Art Student’s League and studied under Walter Appleton Clark, F W DuMond, and FR Gruger. When a friend got a job from the Saturday Evening Post to cover a circus, Brownie went along. The Post liked the article AND Brown's circus drawings. They bought them, a relationship between publisher and artist that lasted 40-years. Brown's pencils appeared in most Post issues from the teens on. He concentrated on story art (no covers) for Collier's, College Humor, Redbook, Cosmopolitan. He also contributed posters for the WWI effort and book art for books (The Magnificent Ambersons, Alice Adams, The Fortune Hunter, The Upper Crust, Messer Marco Polo, The Midlanders, The Lady Evelyn). The vast majority of Brown's work was in pencil, though ink and color wash began appearing in his kit from the early 30s.

Saturday Evening Post (1934?) Brown, A W - 001A

Saturday Evening Post, Mr. Noodle (1930) Brown, A W - 002A

College Humor, "Men - Not Mice" (1930) Brown, A W - 003

YMCA, "For Your Boy" (1918) Brown, A W - 004

Success, "The Home-Coming" (1907) Brown, A W - 005

21 Club (1947) Brown, A W - 006

Redbook, "Men - Not Mice" (1934) Brown, A W - 007

Springmaid (1946) Brown, A W - 008

Sherwin-Williams, "Brighten Up" (1909) Brown, A W - 009

Saturday Evening Post, "Roxana" (1935) Brown, A W - 010

Ladies' Home Journal, "24 Hours A Day" (1936) Brown, A W - 011

Success, "Thompson And His Hippodrome" (1906) Brown, A W - 012

Liberty, "A Most Unsual Season" (1944) Brown, A W - 013

Saturday Evening Post (1935) Brown, A W - 014

Redbook, "Lover's Quarrel" (1940) Brown, A W - 015

Success, "The Editors Chat" (1907) Brown, A W - 016

Spring Mills, "Bundling Without Bungling" (1949) Brown, A W - 017

College Humor (1926) Brown, A W - 018

Saturday Evening Post, "Snow Stuff" (1930) Brown, A W - 019

Saturday Evening Post, "The Precarious Attitudes" (1930) Brown, A W - 020

Ladies' Home Journal, Photo (1936) Brown, A W - 021