Elmer Brown - Tom Tom

Original Linocut (Linoleum Cut) by the American artist, Elmer William Brown 'Elmer Brown'.

Tom Tom

View Other Original Works of Art by African/American Artists.

African/American Artists
#	Image	Title & Artist	Artist Info	Medium	Date	Info	-
01-		Golden Gateway, San Francisco by Raymond Howell	Raymond Howell (Oakland, CA, 1931 - 2002)	Original Silkscreen (Serigraph)	c. 1975	Signed in pencil by the artist and annotated '200' (edition size) by Raymond Howell .	Sold
02.-		Make It Short by John Dowell	John Edward Dowell Jr. 'John Dowell' (Born: March 25, 1941 - Philadelphia, PA)	Original Lithograph & Watercolor (Monotype)	1973	Signed, dated, titled and numbered, 'A.P. #10' by John Dowell in pencil.
03.-		Music Makers by Hartwell Yeargans	Hartwell Yeargans (Kansas City, 1915 - New York, 2005)	Original Color Woodcut	1971	Signed, titled, dated and annotated, ‘Var(iation) II A/P I’ 'Artist Proof' by Hartwell Yeargans
04.-		Tom Tom by Elmer Brown	Elmer William Brown, 'Elmer Brown' (Pittsburgh, 1909 - Cleveland, 1971)	Original Linocut (Linoleum Cut)	c. 1939	Signed and titled on the original matt (under the image) by Elmer Brown in pencil.	Sold
05.-		Une mauvaise rencontre (A Bad Encounter) by Jules Lion designed by Jean-Auguste Bard	Jules Lion (Paris, 1809 or 1810 - New Orleans, Louisiana, 1866)	Original Lithograph	c. 1835	Signed by Jules Lion in the stone to the lower right
06.-		Untitled Composition by Stephanie Pogue	Stephanie Pogue (Shelby, North Carolina, Born, 1944)	Original Deep Etching in Colors	1969	Signed, dated and numbered, '105/200', by Stephanie Pogue in pencil.	Sold
07.-		You're Part of Art by Alvin Carl Hollingsworth	Alvin Carl Hollingsworth (New York, NY, 1928 - 2000)	Original Oil on Canvas Board	c. 1970	Signed by Alvin Hollingsworth within the image to the lower left.
08.-		View from the Balcony (Untitled Composition) by Lloyd Van Pitterson	Lloyd Van Pitterson (Jamaica, 1926 - Elizabeth, New Jersey, 1997)	Original Lithograph	c. 1975 - 1980	Signed in pencil by Lloyd Van Pitterson to the lower left and numbered, 119/300.

View Our Selection of Original American Art of the Depression Era (c. 1930 - c. 1945)

American Art of the Depression Era (c. 1930 - c. 1945)
The American Art of the Depression Era directory contains a listing of original works of art from the Depression decade of the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s created by American artists. These pages also include information about the art publishers, associations, clubs, groups and societies located in major cities throughout the United States, such as Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Wichita, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and elsewhere. Many of these organizations provided an opportunity for American artists to work and create original works of art during the Great Depression. A few of the art associations and clubs active during this period that are discussed in this directory include the American Artists Group, the Associated American Artists, New York, the Buffalo Print Club, the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Lone Star Printmakers, the Prairie Print Makers, the Print Club of Cleveland, the Print Club of Philadelphia, the Print Club of Rochester, the Society of American Etchers, the Indiana Society of Printmakers, the Society of Washington D.C. Artists and the Syracuse Print Club.
01.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 1 (Artist Index (A to E)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: A to E): The following four pages contain a listing of original American etchings, lithographs woodcuts, serigraphs, watercolors, drawings, linocuts and wood engravings from the Depression decade of the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s. Despite the dire economic times publishers of original prints continued to survive and successfully raise revenue for the artists as well as making original art affordable during the Great Depression years. Listed on the first page of the 'American Art of the Depression Era' directory are over fifty original works of art created by American artists such as, George Elbert Burr, his etchings, Little Canyon, Arizona and Morraine Park were both commissioned by The Print Connoisseur, while his Evening, Arizona was published by The Brooklyn Society of Etchers. Also, works such as, Kenneth Ballantyne's original linocut, Wood Nymphs appeared in The Colophon in New York in 1931. George Elmer Browne’s The Fishing Fleet and Adolf Dehn’s Threshing Near Kilkenny published by the Associated American Artists (A.A.A.), are other outstanding examples of early prints from this decade.
02.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 2 (Artist Index (F to J)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: F to J): The second page of this directory also contains a list of over fifty original works of art created during the Great Depression years by American artists. One of the more interesting aspects of art of the Depression is how seldom the actual misery and privation of the decade is depicted. On this page, for example, only Hugo Gellert’s original lithograph, Primary Accumulation, protests the contemporary state of affairs. The visual arts (including films) set out to divert and entertain. Perhaps for artists an almost sure recipe for failure would have been to remind the average man of his sorry condition. On the contrary most areas of the entertainment industries thrived. The art of Kenneth Hartwell is an excellent example. His lithographs of circus acrobats, jugglers and clowns and of the music, dancing and comedy of the Burlesque shows are worlds into themselves. Gazing at his imagery the viewer is granted a temporary reprieve from the real world.
03.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 3 (Artist Index (K to P)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: K to P): Even in a Depression the sense of a continuation of normal activities persists. In Joseph Margulies, New England Granny the subject does exactly what grannies do best as she contentedly sits in her rocker, sewing. Philip Parsons depicts a joyful family reunion in Home for Christmas and Henry Pitz depicts the dignity of work in his monumental art deco style in both Maine Fisherman and Man Against the Sky. Purely by alphabetical accident, page 3 also contains two of my favorite night scenes: Alan Lewis’ delightful color woodcut, Swinging the Gate and Martin Lewis’ renowned Night in New York. This famous etching was published by the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1932.
04.-	American Art of the Depression Era - Page 4 (Artist Index (R to Z)	American Art of the Depression Era dating from 1930 to 1945 (Art of The Print / www.artoftheprint.com - Artist Index: R to Z): Like the previous three pages, page four of this directory provides a full variety of Depression era themes and techniques. Stark realities of the times are provided by W. P. Robinson (Abandoned Farm) and Isadore Weiner (Gardening). In contrast are pieces like John W. Winkler’s playful landscape, Rae Lakes, California and the fine animal studies by Clarence Zuelch. Two magnificent drypoints by Albert Sterner -- Meditation and The Promised Land – will also be found listed on that page. In particular, The Promised Land seems like a potent symbol of man’s journey through the decade of the Great Depression. In total, there are over two hundred works of original art created by American artists from the Depression decade of the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s listed in the 'American Art of the Depression' directory.

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Art of the Print / www.artoftheprint.com sells international fine art. Our collection consists of original paintings, watercolors, drawings, and original prints, such as etchings, engravings, lithographs, woodcuts, silk-screens, aquatints, mezzotints, linocuts, monoprints, and other mediums of original art. All of these works of art have been created by prominent and established painters, illustrators, watercolour artists and printmakers from around the world. The art in our gallery ranges from the early Renaissance period to the modern and contemporary art period. You can view other original artworks similar to the subject under discussion on this page listed in the following art directories.
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Music & Dance Portrayed in Art Index	The 'Music & Dance Portrayed in Art' directory contains original works of art concentrating upon the theme of music and dance, a subject of great examination and interest for many artists. Their countless portraits or studies of composers, musicians, singers, dancers, and musical instruments are an important contribution to the arts.
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Title:	Tom Tom
Artist:	Brown, Elmer William 'Elmer Brown' (Pittsburgh, 1909 - Cleveland, 1971)
Date:	c. 1939
Medium:	Original Linocut (Linoleum Cut)
Note:	Elmer William Brown 'Elmer Brown': An important twentieth century African-American painter and printmaker, Elmer Brown moved from Pittsburgh to Columbus, Ohio, during his youth. He left home as a teenager and became a vagrant. In 1924, Elmer William Brown was arrested for riding freight trains and was sentenced to work on a chain gang for several years.
	Elmer Brown moved to Cleveland in 1929. There he became associated with Karamu House, a major multiracial community art center. During the 1930's and 1940's, Karamu House took a leading national role in creating and promoting African-American arts. Karamu artists included Elmer Brown, Hughie Lee-Smith, Charles Sallee and William E. Smith, and group exhibitions of their art were shown in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles. Brown's involvement with Karamu House was not limited to printmaking and painting. He also participated as an actor and stage designer for its theatrical branch, the Gilpin Players.
	With the assistance of a Gilpin Players scholarship, Elmer William Brown studied art techniques at the Huntington Polytechnic Institute (1933-1934) and at the Cleveland School of Art, under Paul Travis. He began exhibiting his works at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1934. In 1936, Elmer Brown joined the Cleveland theater project of the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) and worked in scenic design. Several years later, he joined the graphic arts department of the W.P.A. founded by President Roosevelt in 1935 to 1943. It was a relief program sponsored by President Roosevelt's administration from 1935 to 1943.
	In the early 1940's, Elmer Brown turned much of his energy to mural paintings. He was commissioned to paint three murals for a federal housing project and another for the Men's City Club of Cleveland. In 1942, the U.S. Army hired Elmer Brown to paint patriotic images to be used as posters for African-American soldiers. After the war, Elmer William Brown served both as a teacher at the Cooper School of Art and as an illustrator at the American Greetings Corporation.
	In all probability, "Tom Tom" was created by Elmer Brown when he worked for the Gilpin Players at Karamu House. In "Transformations in Cleveland Art", Mark Cole writes; "In 1927, an impetus for organizing a more formal art department arose out of a need to decorate the interior of Karamu Theatre, the newly established resident venue of the Gilpin Players, Karamu House’s theatrical troupe. Inspired by a New Negro aesthetic doctrine to use African sources rather than European sources in creating art -- a doctrine aimed to invoke psychological emancipation and racial pride -- Karamu members fashioned theater decorations based on African tribal art, which they researched at the Cleveland Public Library and at the library of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Because of this association, African art became a visual trademark of the Karamu Theatre. As the handbill designed by Elmer Brown in 1939 attests, African designs and motifs continued for several years to be associated with Karamu Theatre- ..." * Entitled "The Gilpin Players of the Karamu", this linocut handbill (about the same size as "Tom Tom") depicts an African hunter under a hot sun. Both the handbill and "Tom Tom" share similar, strong, Art Deco elements.
Reference:	William H. Robinson and David Steinberg, "Transformations in Cleveland Art", 1796 - 1946, Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996, pp. 223 & 224.
	* Quotation from the essay by Mark Cole entitled, "’I, Too, Am America’: Karamu House and African-American Artists in Cleveland", in "Transformations in Cleveland Art", p. 151.
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
	View larger Framed Image

Size:	7 1/8 X 5 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
Condition:	"Tom Tom" was acquired in its original paper matt and backing. Elmer Brown signed and titled this linocut under the image upon the matt. The matt and backing presented problems. The wove paper used for it was both brittle and acidic. Furthermore "Tom Tom" had been glued along the upper margins (verso) to the backing sheet. Thankfully, deterioration of the actual linocut, has not yet taken place. The linocut was carefully removed from the backing. No glue residue remains on the verso. It has since been re-matted and framed in complete archival materials. The part of the original matt containing Elmer Brown's signature and title has been saved and positioned under the linocut, where it initially was. The remainder of the matt is included with this sale.

	"Tom Tom" is printed upon fine, laid paper with margins extending about one half of an inch. Signed and titled on the original matt (under the image) in pencil. A strongly printed impression and in very good condition throughout. "Tom Tom" represents both a scarce and delightful example of the African-American art of Elmer William Brown.
Subject:	Elmer Brown, Elmer William Brown, "Tom Tom", Original Linocut (Linoleum Cut), African-American artists and art, the Gilpin Players, Karamu House, Paul Travis, Cleveland Museum of Art, Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), Art Deco.
Price:	Sold - The price is no longer available.
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