Lot 1639: 1940s Arthur William Brown Original Artwork

Arthur William Brown (1881-1966) was best known as a magazine illustrator whose most prolific period occurred from just prior to World War I through the 1940s. Around 1910, Brown moved to New York to study under Walter Appleton Clark at the Art Student League. It was not long after this that he began his 40-year association with The Saturday Evening Post. Brown was later honored by his election as president of the Society of Illustrators, a post he would hold from 1944 to 1947. Offered here is an undated, 13-1/2" x 11", gouache on board work that appears to have been created as an accompanying illustration for an unknown magazine story. (Probably from the late 1940s.) But despite its unknown reason for creation, it is an image to which many viewers can relate - a new father viewing his child through the hospital nursery's window, as a maternity nurse assists with the viewing. The look of awe and wonder on the father's face tells the entire tale. A few very light surface rubs can be seen when the work is held at an angle, but these do not break color. Overall, the work remains in outstanding condition, with some of the penciled construction lines still visible under the paint. Brown has fully signed the piece in the lower right hand corner.