Last month, we received the sad news that Robert (Bob) Brown NEAC had passed away.
He was elected a member of the Club in 1964 and for many years, along with Charlotte Halliday, was its 'engine room'.
Bob was not only a wonderful, dedicated and hard-working painter but also, as you will read in the words that follow from his friends at the NEAC, a kind and generous man who was greatly loved.
Our deepest sympathy to his wife Sue and all his family.
CHARLOTTE HALLIDAY:
"Peter Brown has referred to my work with Bob in 'the engine room'. We certainly put in many, many hours together – dawn raids and midnight oil – but I couldn’t possibly have done what I did without him. We made a good team, with his infectious enthusiasm and energy, and my obsessions.
"For example, I insisted for years that the annual exhibition should be hung in numerical order (I still wish it could be!) which meant that the pictures’ original numbers were changed once they were on the wall. This involved waiting to the end of the hang and then Bob driving through the night to the printers, and collecting a first batch of catalogues from them the next morning!
"And he and Sue were unbelievably generous and kind in coming to my rescue when my brother – in far-flung Sheppey – was in hospital and I had to visit him and sort out his phenomenally cluttered house.
"I think Bob is the kindest person I have ever known."
'The Souk, Marakesh Market' (1997)
RICHARD PIKESLEY:
"I cried all day at the loss of my dearest friend, but remembered a lot too.
"On a ferry on our way to Brittany, with no clue of where exactly we were going to stay, we hatched a plan on the boat and headed for Douarnenez. Arriving late in the evening, we urgently needed somewhere to sleep, and a walk along the waterfront brought us to a little guest house. On ringing the doorbell, an elderly lady appeared and viewed us nervously – two scruffy English painters. She reluctantly showed us our room and was still a little frosty over breakfast the next morning.
"By the time we set out for our morning's painting, Bob knew the names of all Madam’s grandchildren. The meals got more lavish as the week went on, and by about evening three there was a bottle of brandy on the table. Bob's excellent French, and his warmth, and very real interest in everyone he met had worked its magic.
"On the same trip, he said to me, 'Richard, you've got to work a bricklayer's day.' Nothing less would do, and I know few painters who came anywhere near Bob for sustained hard work.
"On one occasion, I met him a few days before he set off for a painting trip to China. He showed me his wristwatch which seemed to be set at the wrong time. 'Beijing time,' he said, and went on to say that he'd adjusted his working and sleeping hours to get the jet lag out of the way before his trip, so as not to waste valuable painting time when he got there.
"For donkey's years, we were together on the NEAC Exec. Bob was always the engine room behind that committee, working hard to join the dots and make sure everything ran seamlessly.
"Driving up from deepest Dorset, I would often break my journey, staying with Bob and Sue overnight and enjoying their wonderful hospitality. Then up before 5 am the next morning for a 'dawn raid' into London, getting to Mall Galleries before the worst of the traffic, then a huge fry-up breakfast at the local greasy spoon, with many cups of tea, and lots of laughter before dashing back to help hang the exhibition . . .
"What memories!"
'Following the Woodbird' (2003)
SALIANNE PUTMAN:
"If there is one word that springs to mind when I think of Bob it is ‘delicious.’
"Let me set the scene for you. We are in a beautiful National Trust house in rural Wiltshire, surrounded by beautiful parkland. The house is entirely ours for a whole week. We can paint from dawn till bedtime.
"The tutor, Bob Brown, is a passionate painter and he wants nothing more than to share this enthusiasm with the painters gathered in the large studio.
"He poses the model, often in a bath which he has brought with him. As he observes the pose, a stage whispered ‘delicious’ which reflects what we are all feeling. We are in painters’ paradise.
"Bob Brown gave so much. It was a real privilege to work alongside him. The word ‘delicious’ describes his handling of the paint as he placed one colour against another to create visual music. It describes the way he saw, felt and created – and the man himself.
"Bob’s enthusiasm always shone through when he was teaching. He was such an inspiration. On these courses, Bob taught all day. And only when he was off duty did he paint himself – that is before breakfast and after dinner.
"The before-breakfast session was, by agreement, in the model’s bedroom – sometimes before she was awake. I was invited to join Bob for these sessions. Such a treat!
"What we all took home at the end of those weeks was so much more than a cluster of paintings. We had experienced one man’s total delight in his artistic practice as he responded to the world as he saw it, felt it, and responded to it.
"Thank you, Bob, for sharing so much. From time to time, whilst painting in my studio, I experience moments that bring to mind your whispered, ‘delicious’.
"Your influence lives on."
'Window Sill and Towels' (1982)
DIANA CALVERT:
"It’s not easy to write an appreciation of Bob Brown as there are so many things that should be mentioned. However, my most vivid memories of Bob are at the hanging of the New English exhibition in the days before computers, when it was all labels hanging over the paintings, stick and paste etc.
"Tom Coates and his team would do the hanging and would then leave to let a small number collate the catalogue. Each page would be dashed off to be faxed to Bob’s printer so the catalogue would be ready for the Critics’ Lunch the next day. One by one, the helpers would slip away until only Bob and Charlotte were left, sometimes not leaving until nearly midnight. However, the catalogue was always ready in time for the lunch.
"Bob and Charlotte were a wonderful team. There are so many other things to say about Bob, but this is one of the things I remember.
"The New English owes him so much."
'Winter, Mill on the Kennett 2' (1987)
PETER BROWN:
"I first met Bob when I borrowed a room in my mother’s house so that I could take part in Newbury Open Studios. Bob and Sue were amongst the few visitors I got that weekend, and Bob was very encouraging.
"Enthusing about the NEAC, he decided to help me. He asked me to bring some paintings for him to look at and select for the elections once I had gotten through to the shortlist.
"I remember arriving at their converted barn in Hampstead Marshall with its amazing studio, seeing him chuck a log on the wood burner as I pulled up.
"He showed me around: where he did things, where he would have a model or work things up, his printing press, his framing area, and I was in awe of his wonderful work.
"'You’re in!' were the words he delivered on a Monday morning after the NEAC AGM in December 1998.
'In?'
'Yes. You can call yourself Peter Brown NEAC.'
"He got me on the committee and introduced me to his 'dawn raids' where I’d drop by the studio in Hampstead Marshall – often greeted by him, Richard Pikesley and Richard Sorrell – sometime before 6 am to hit the road for London. 'Gotta do Reading by 7 am,' he would say.
"Once parked at Mall Galleries, we would head for a slap-up greasy spoon and whatever ensued – a meeting, or a hang.
"He made the NEAC so exciting; his enthusiasm was infectious. He loved the idea of a new website and getting things online. I still have his black sheet that we used when he and I photographed work as it came in, much under glass, at Bankside to be uploaded to our new website.
"'It’s the way forward you see, Pete. We MUST embrace it!'
"He loved his travel and painted all over the world. His Beijing paintings stand out for me. But Bob was so modest – happy to work in the engine room with Charlotte Halliday for all those years – what a team.
"I wonder if the New English would still be here if it was not for them. Bob was a quiet ball of energy, and a lovely man who we will miss a great deal.
"Thanks Bob!"
'St Lunaire 2' (1994)
MICHAEL WHITTLESEA:
"Bob had enormous enthusiasm for painting and great energy. Bob and Sue were welcoming and generous. 'Painting with Bob' was fun but exhausting. He did not waste painting time, and while I was laying out a few tubes of paint and looking at a blank canvas, Bob had completed a painting and numbered it. He was so proud to be part of the New English family."
'Summer Days' (1997)
SUSAN RYDER:
"What a wonderful man Bob was. How much he gave to the NEAC and to all who knew him. When I was doing my bit for the Society, he was always there, helping and being such fun, and so warm. And he has just kept on helping these years."
'Taking a Nap, Siesta. Hudson NY' (2001)
AND FINALLY, HERE IS THE EULOGY THAT RICHARD SORRELL GAVE AT BOB'S FUNERAL:
"How much there is to say about Bob.
"Bob was such a good friend. I will miss him very much.
"I like to remember him and our friendship, his kindness, his advice. He said to me that I should always write it down before I said it, and I'm following that useful advice now.
I met Bob when I joined the New English Art Club, the fine London art society that champions figurative painting. Bob was an important figure in the steering of the NEAC to the second Golden Age of that society. He told me that he had been in teaching for a long time – '35 years in the Galleys' – as he put it, and he was enjoying the freedom of devoting his life to painting.
"And how he devoted himself to painting! He worked with huge energy and application. He was forever on the move – all those journeys abroad with his painting equipment. He went to China, Australia, Italy, France, Iran and Russia.
"Then he would return to Hamstead Marshall, laden with sketches, that he worked up into large, finished paintings. Christopher Hall told me that they were returning from France and feeling a bit nervous that the customs people would impound their paintings. The customs man pointed to a box and asked what was in it. 'Bits of wood,' said Bob, and they were waved through.
"Bob had a big show of his Chinese pictures at Mall Galleries in 1998, where the Chinese Ambassador, opening the show, said that Bob was 'a man with a big heart'. He did have a big heart and he was generous with his time and encouragement. He seemed to have inexhaustible energy for painting, and he used to say, 'You must keep going … Don't stop.'
"He acknowledged a debt to Fred Dubery who had been a mentor early in his career. Fred was a member of the NEAC and remained a friend throughout his life.
"We grew closer when my wife Sue and I moved to Kintbury, about 5 miles away from Hamstead Marshall. Bob and Christopher Hall would come and collect me and we would go off for the evening to the Halfway House or the Dundas Arms to talk about art and societies with beer and plates of indigestible chips covered with melted cheese.
"On New English days a load of us would go hurtling off along the M4 to London on one of Bob's 'dawn raids', to avoid the traffic and arrive early in the morning and have breakfast at a little café called Porky's, and then wander around St James's Park until Mall Galleries opened. All such happy memories.
"Bob was a cultured man, well-read and with a great love of music, especially Wagner. As time went on, he listened less to music and started to think of it as an intrusion into his concentration on painting.
"Sue was a great and strong support to Bob. They formed an intense attachment to Hamstead Marshall where Bob built his studio, and Sue made deep and fascinating archaeological research into the place.
"We always enjoyed visiting Bob and Sue at their beautiful house there, with the studio and fine old grounds, and the mysterious Mound and the tree struck by lightning. Later on, we came to Worthing to visit Bob and Sue in their lovely new home by the sea.
"I went to this year's NEAC Critic's Lunch and Private View last week. In a quiet period, I slipped away and went to the National Gallery and sat in front of Paolo Veronese's 'Darius Surrendering to Alexander', a huge masterpiece that puts us all in the shade. It was one of Bob's favourite paintings. Perhaps, like his love of Wagner, it appealed to his admiration for the grand. He painted this picture of this scene in the National Gallery, with visitors lingering in front of Veronese's great work.
"Bob Brown, I shall miss you very much."
TO FIND OUT MORE . . .
- See his NEAC artist profile page
- Watch a video interview with Bob from 2013