Ralph Brown

Ralph Brown was born in Leeds in 1928. After studying at Leeds Grammar School (1939-46) he did National Service in the RAF (1946-48). He attended Leeds School of Art (1948-51) and Hammersmith School of Art, London (1951-52), and then studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art (1952-56). On his first visit to Paris in 1951 Brown saw the work…

Ralph Brown was born in Leeds in 1928. After studying at Leeds Grammar School (1939-46) he did National Service in the RAF (1946-48). He attended Leeds School of Art (1948-51) and Hammersmith School of Art, London (1951-52), and then studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art (1952-56).

On his first visit to Paris in 1951 Brown saw the work of Auguste Rodin, Alberto Giacometti and Germaine Richier. Later, in 1954, he made a special study of Rodin whilst in Paris on a scholarship to work in the studio of Ossip Zadkine. During the same visit he met Giacometti and Richier. In 1956 he published a thesis, Some Digressions on Rodin and Medardo Rosso. A further scholarship, awarded by the University of London in 1957 and sponsored by Henry Moore, enabled him to visit Italy where he made a particular study of Etruscan sculpture and the work of Giovanni Pisano and Piero della Francesca. Brown visited the studios of Marino Marini, Giacomo Manzù and Emilio Greco. At this time he also worked for a period in Cannes making mosaic panels for Picasso. He was elected Royal Academician in 1972.

Brown taught part-time at the Royal College of Art from 1956 to 1973 when, in order to concentrate on his own work, he moved to the South of France. Here, inevitably. his continuing thirst for contact with art of the figurative tradition in mainland Europe influenced his sculpture profoundly. Robust modelling, savage imagery or gently erotic forms are to be found in his work, for which the human clay is an abiding inspiration. Drawing is important to him - as both a rapid response to human form and in highly finished compositions.

As a result of exhibitions in Britain, Europe and in America Brown's work may be found in many public and private collections here and abroad. Brown currently lives and works in Amberley, near Stroud, Gloucestershire.