Vintage American School Modernist Pastel Carlyle C. Browning Stamped, "African American Man with Jackhammer", 16 1/2 x 12"
The following biography was researched, compiled, and written by Geoffrey K. Fleming, Executive Director, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, with the help of Stuart Browning, the artist’s son. CARLYLE CURTIS BROWNING (January 26, 1921 – January 6, 1968)A.K.A. “Carlyle C. Browning”Artist in oil, watercolor, gouache, pastel and collage; commercial artist, portraitist, muralist and designer. Born in Monett, Barry/Lawrence County, Missouri, he was the son of Marie Caldwell (1897 – 1990) and Boyd Browning (1895 – 1974). The family lived in Verona/Spring River, both located in Lawrence County, Missouri.Browning attended the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design from 1940-42, then enlisted in the U.S. Army from 1942-46 and then returned to the Institute from 1946 through 1949 on the G.I. Bill. While in Kansas City, he taught both at the Institute (watercolor and drawing, 1950-51) and served as an instructor for the Fort Leavenworth Women’s Art Group.In 1949 he created a series of at least 252 (some sources report 300, but this seems to be an error) painted and airbrushed panels depicting local agricultural and industrial history for the Town House Hotel located in downtown Kansas City. That same year he married Edna White (1926 – 2006), and then traveled to Massachusetts to study (and possibly teach) at the Farnsworth Art School, located in North Truro which was led by the American painter, Jerry Farnsworth (1895 – 1983). After their time in Massachusetts, he and his wife returned to Kansas City.The family moved to Elmhurst, Queens County, New York (some sources wrongly report Elmhurst as being in New Jersey) in 1951 to work for the firm of Friedmann Chase & Associates. While living in Elmhurst, Browning traveled into New York City to study at the Art Students League of New York and also took time during this period to study at Pratt Institute, located in nearby Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. In 1957 he moved his family to Connecticut where he became the art director and chief designer of the prestigious “Display Work Shop” located in Hartford, a position in which he served until his death. The firm focused on the design and creation of industrial exhibitions for business of all sizes. His family resided in nearby Enfield, Hartford County, Connecticut.During his lifetime Browning’s works were shown locally in Connecticut through The Wiley Galleries, located in downtown Hartford. He had solo exhibitions at the gallery that featured watercolors of Cape Cod in 1957 and participated in additional solo and group shows through 1967. His work for the Display Workshop was included at the world’s fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens County, New York in 1965-66 and at “Expo ‘67” held in Montreal, Quebec Province, Canada.Browning received national attention for his composition “Tenement,” for which he won the grand prize in the 1960 Motorola Poster Art Competition (as part of his winnings, the work would be included on the 1961 Motorola calendar). He also obtained extensive praise for the four huge murals he painted in 1960 for the Connecticut Turnpike Authority’s Savarin restaurants, which featured scenes from Connecticut’s industrial past.Carlyle C. Browning died suddenly of a heart attack on Saturday, the 6th of January 1968 at the age of forty-six. His funeral service was held at the Leete Funeral Home located in Thompsonville, Hartford County, Connecticut, which was officiated by the Rev. J. Arnold Dahlstrand of the Hazardville Methodist Church. Browning’s body was then transported to Monett, Missouri where his local service was held at the Buchanan Chapel and was officiated by the Rev. W. K. Weston. Burial followed in the Liberty Cemetery located in Freistatt, Lawrence County, Missouri.Several memorial exhibitions of his works were held following his death, including one at the Farmington office of the Hartford Bank & Trust Company in early 1970. His widow remarked at the time of that exhibition: “As with most artists, during his lifetime he did not stress selling his work as he hated to part with them, but I have always felt that his work was of museum quality because of his versatility in medium and subject.”As an artist, Browning’s works tend to be generally more modern in style and composition and feature a variety of subjects including local and regional land and seascapes, animals, as well as moody and industrial looking city scenes. Stylistically they are all over the spectrum and include works that evoke the look of the WPA era all the way through examples that are modern or cubist in their appearance. In 2013 a retrospective of his works was presented at the Westfield State University Downtown Art Gallery, located in Westfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. Works from his family’s personal collection of his artwork bear an estate stamp reading “From the Estate of Carlyle C. Browning” and have appeared on the market in recent years.Though there are undoubtedly other exhibitions in which Browning participated, those presently known include the following: Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA, 1958; The Wiley Galleries, Hartford, CT 1959 (solo), 1967 (solo and group); Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers, Washington, DC, 1960; Motorola Poster Art Competition, Chicago, IL, 1960 (first prize); The International and Universal Exposition, Montreal, CA, 1967; Cinema 3 Art Gallery, West Springfield, MA, 1969 (solo, memorial); Hartford Bank & Trust Company, Farmington, CT, 1970 (solo, memorial), Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, Hartford, CT, 1970 (solo, memorial); Paul's Picture Gallery (operated by his son, Keith Browning), Westfield, MA, 1998-2019; The Westfield State University Downtown Art Gallery, Westfield, MA, 2013 (retrospective).Browning’s works are known to be in the following public institutions or collections: Cross Lines Towers (formerly the Town House Hotel), Kansas City, MO. The majority of his works reside in private collections throughout the United States.

49 x 37 x 2 in

10 lb