"Joan Brown (Feb. 13, 1938–Oct. 26, 1990); American figurative painter who lived and worked in Northern California. She was a member of the 'second generation' of the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Born Joan Vivien Beatty in 1938 in San Francisco. She studied at the California School of Fine Art (now San Francisco Art Institute), graduating with a BFA degree in 1959 and a Master of Arts in 1960. There she met her instructor and mentor Elmer Bischoff. While still a student she had her first solo gallery exhibition in 1958. In 1956 Brown married William Brown; they were divorced in the early 1960s. She was married to Bay Area Figurative sculptor Manuel Neri from 1962-66, though their relationship and artistic collaboration dated several years prior to this. Brown achieved prominence with a style of figurative painting that combined bright color, sometimes cartoonish drawing, and personal symbolism. Her first museum show occurred at the Whitney annual show in New York (now the Whitney Biennial) in 1960 when she was 22. She was the youngest artist to be exhibited that year. In the 1970s Brown produced autobiographical works based on actual and imagined events. She was a swimmer in amateur competitions and swam in the first women's Golden Gate swim in San Francisco Bay. In 1974 she joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley teaching art. In 1975 she and a group of others nearly drowned during a swim to Alcatraz Island when a passing freighter swamped the group. Her paintings based on the experience included the self-portrait After the Alcatraz Swim #3. In the late 1970s, Brown became increasingly interested in spirituality and New Age ideas, eventually becoming an adherent of Sathya Sai Baba. She made a number of trips to his ashram in Puttaparthi, India. She withdrew from painting later on and concentrated on public sculpture. Her influences were Egyptian and Hindu icons. In 1990, she died in a construction accident..." (https://en.wikipedia.org/w) undefined

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