Cecily Brown Biography

Most Popular Contemporary Artists

Cecily Brown

Information About Cecily Brown

Cecily Brown (born 1969) is a British painter. Her style displays the influence of a variety of contemporary painters, from Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon and Joan Mitchell, to Old Masters like Rubens, Poussin and Goya.Brown lives and works in New York.

Alma mater: Epsom School of Art (1987), Morley College (1987–89), Slade School of Art (1993)

Style: Figurative art | Abstract art

Click here to read this biography book.

Her Personal Life

Since 2014, Brown has been serving on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA). Brown was born and raised in England before moving to New York City in 1994. Prior to moving to New York city, Brown resided in New York as an exchange student from the Slade School of Art in 1992. She is the daughter of novelist Shena Mackay and art critic David Sylvester. From the age of three Brown wanted to be an artist; she was supported in this ambition by her family, notably by her grandmother and two of her uncles who were also artists. Brown is married to architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff; they have one daughter.

Her Education Path...

Brown earned a B-TEC Diploma in Art and Design from the Epsom School of Art, Surrey, England (1985–87) (now part of the University for the Creative Arts), took drawing and printmaking classes at Morley College, London (1987–89), and received a BA degree in Fine Arts from the Slade School of Art, London (1989–93). During her studies she worked as a waitress and, later, in an animation studio. In addition to painting, Brown also studied printmaking and draftsmanship. She earned First Class Honours at the Slade and was the first-prize recipient in the National Competition for British Art Students.

Her Career Path...

Brown left London to sign on to the Gagosian Gallery in New York City. She became known to the art world in the late 1990s through an exhibition of abstracted paintings of rabbits. The rabbits in the works are frolicking in bacchanalian landscapes. In 1995, the art world took notice of her work when she displayed Four Letter Heaven at the Telluride Film Festival; it was shown in the United States as well as Europe. The films consist of sexual and pornographic themes, which she explores in the majority of her work. Brown maintained a studio in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, then in 2011, she worked from a studio at a former office near Union Square.