Hilton Brown was an artist first, an educator, and a writer. As a painter and teacher of color, Brown created abstract works in the 1960's before turning to figurative representation. In the '60s Brown explored abstract and non-representational visual ideas that were heavily influenced by the Washington School of Color spearheaded by Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, and perpetuated through the works of such artists as Howard Mehring and Thomas Downing.
A vibrant and carefully structured exploration of pattern, rhythm, and color, Screen Series, No 37 is built from a precise grid of intersecting lines, combining but not mixing bold hues; yellow, teal, magenta, purple, and black, into a composition that feels both orderly and full of energy. While the structure is strict and methodical, the effect is anything but static. The colors shift and pulse as your eyes move across the surface, creating a sense of movement and visual tension.
Brown’s Screen Series is one of several thematic cycles he developed during the mid-to-late 1960s, alongside others like Pattern, Quilt, Light, and Ambivalence. The series ranges in scale from the monumental Screen Series No. 15, Leo (1967), measuring 100 by 100 inches, to more intimate works like our Victoria, Screen Series No. 37, at just two feet square.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist by Kazimir Karpusko, then by descent
Wright Auction, Chicago April 2010
Ro Gallery, NY
Private Collection, NYC