Ralph BrownRA (1928 – 2013) was an English sculptor who came to national prominence in the late 1950s with his large-scale bronze Meat Porters, commissioned for Harlow New Town, Essex and is known for his sensual, figurative sculptures.
Like Henry Moore who befriended him and encouraged him by buying his work, Brown's art is deeply rooted in the figurative tradition. However, whilst his predecessors focused their energies on carving and maintaining 'truth to materials', Brown concentrated on modelling allowing him to interact with his material on a more intimate level. In the introductory catalogue essay for Brown's major retrospective show at Leeds City Art Gallery in 1988 Dennis Farr commented: "So much of Brown's sculpture is his search for equivalents, in formal terms, for sensual experiences."[2]
Harlow New Town Commission
Brown came to national prominence in the late 1950s with his large-scale bronze group Meat Porters, commissioned for Harlow New Town, Essex. The piece is a tribute to physical labour with two figures hauling an ox carcass, a subject fitting to the busy market square and a form that brings dynamism to the otherwise rigid architecture. The concrete version of the piece won second prize for sculpture at the John Moore's Exhibition, Liverpool in 1959.[3]
Meat Porters (1959–60). Sited in the Market Square at Harlow New Town, Essex in 1961
Market Place Fountain, Hatfield New Town, arranged through the Chairman of Digswell Arts Trust, now re-sited in front of the Sports Centre, 1962
Liverpool University, Engineering Block. Relief purchased by Eugene Rosenberg with FRS Yorke and CS Mardall, 1966
London, Manufacturers' Hanover Bank, David Ichbald, designer, commissioned bronze wave forms as large wall relief, 1970
The Patriarch, Jambo. Commissioned by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for Jersey Zoo as a memorial to the famous gorilla, 1995
Meat Porters (1957–1960) exhibited at Sculpture at Goodwood, West Sussex, 2000–2008
Solo exhibitions
2016, Ralph Brown & the Figure in the Fifties and Sixties. Pangolin London
2015, Ralph Brown, Nine Sculptures. 108 Fine Art, Harrogate, Yorkshire
2014, Ralph Brown RA: A Memorial Exhibition, Pangolin London[5]
2009, Ralph Brown at Eighty: The Early Decades Revisited, Pangolin London[6]
2005, Number Nine Gallery, Birmingham
1999, Bruton Gallery, Leeds
1996, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset
1995, Napier Gallery, St Helier, Jersey
1988, Leeds City Art Gallery/Henry Moore Institute[7]
1988, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick Arts Centre
1987, Eton Art Gallery, Windsor
1987, Beaux Arts Bath
1986, Solomon Gallery, London
1985, Long Island Gallery, New York
1984, Charles Foley Gallery, Columbus, Ohio
1983, Beaux Arts, Bath
1983, Puck Building, New York
1979, Browse and Darby, London
1976, Robert Welch Gallery, Chipping Campden
1976, Taranman Gallery, London
1975, Galerie H, Marseille
1974, Galerie Dortindeguey, Montpellier
1973, Gunther Franke, Munich drawings
1972, Archer Gallery, London
1972, Traklhaus Galerie, Salzburg Festival
1971, Form International, London
1964, Bangor University, Wales
1964, Forum Gallery, Bristol
1963, Leicester Galleries, London
1961, Leicester Galleries, London
Publications
'Whiteley, Gillian; Wood, Jon; Kingdon, Rungwe; Le Carré, John (2009). Social, savage, sensual: the sculpture of Ralph Brown'. Sansom & Company. ISBN978-1-904537-95-3.
'Ralph Brown at Eighty. Early Decades Revisited. London: Pangolin. 2009. ISBN978-0-9560491-2-4.