PETER BROWN

b. 1948, Northampton, Massachusetts

 
Peter Brown, Wray, Colorado, 2005

Peter Brown, Wray, Colorado, 2005

Peter Brown has photographed the open landscape and small towns of the High Plains for the past thirty years.  He lives in Houston with his wife Jill Fryar. He often collaborates with writers and is the author of Seasons of Light, with Denise Levertov, On The Plains, with Kathleen Norris, West of Last Chance with Kent Haruf, Habiter L’Ouest with John Brinckerhoff Jackson and Hometown Texas, with Joe Holley. An English language version of Habiter L’Ouest, (To Live in the West) will be published in 2019.

His work has been collected by and exhibited in a variety of museums including the Menil Collection in Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, The Amon Carter Museum, the Stanford Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art among others.  

He has been the recipient of an Individual Artist's Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, the Imogen Cunningham Award, and grants from the Graham Foundation and the Arts Alliance of Houston. 

Brown’s photography and writing have appeared in many journals, including Harpers, DoubleTake, Life, PDN, The New Yorker, Aperture, American Photographer, Texas Monthly, 5280, The New York Times Magazine and SPOT.  

He has a BA in English and an MFA in Art from Stanford University and has taught at both Stanford and at Rice where he now teaches at the Glasscock School.  He was named Photographer/Educator of the year by Houston Center for Photography and was awarded the inaugural Glasscock School Teaching Prize.  An art gallery at the Glasscock School was created and named in his honor in 2014.

He is a founding member of Houston Center for Photography, where he serves on the Advisory Council, and has served on the Art Board of FotoFest and the Hirsch Library Board at the MFAH.  He is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Glasscock School.  November 3, 2008 was declared ”Peter Brown Day” by the mayor of Houston in recognition of his service to the arts.

EDUCATION

  • Master of Fine Arts in Photography, Stanford University, 1977

  • Bachelor of Arts in English, Stanford University, 1971

SELECTED HONORS, GRANTS & AWARDS

2018      Honoree, Houston Center for Photography Gala/Auction

2014      “Peter T. Brown Gallery” funded and created, Glasscock School, Rice University

2011      One of five Texas photographers selected to travel to China: University of Texas San Antonio/China

                    Photographers Association.

2008      Houston Arts Alliance, Individual Artist's Grant

2007      Glasscock School Teaching Prize, Rice University (first awarded)

2007     “Peter Brown Day,” City of Houston, declaration by Mayor Bill White, Nov. 3, 2007

2005      Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, Duke University (with Kent Haruf)

2004      Photographer/Educator of the Year, Houston Center for Photography

2003      CS Foundation Grant, Texas Tech University

2000      Fred Whitehead Award, Texas Institute of Letters, (with Molly Renda)

1999      Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, Columbia University/LIFE Magazine

1997      Cultural Arts Council of Houston, Individual Artist's Grant

1996      Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Artist's Grant

1990      National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Photographer's Fellowship

1988      Cultural Arts Council of Houston, Individual Artist's Grant

1986-88 Rice University Cullinan Chair Commission to photograph the High Plains

1982-92 Rice University Research Grants to photograph the High Plains

1983      Imogen Cunningham Award, Imogen Cunningham Trust

1977      Carnegie Teaching Fellowship, Stanford University

1975      Mileo Prize, Boca Raton, Florida

BOOKS & PORTFOLIOS

2018      Forthcoming: To Live in the West, with J.B. Jackson. Trinity University Press, San Antonio

2017      Hometown Texas, with Joe Holley, Trinity University Press, San Antonio

2016      Habiter L'Ouest, with John Brinckerhoff Jackson, WildProject Press, Marseille, France

2011      Llano Estacado: An Island in the Sky, Collaborative Photographic book, Texas Tech Press.

                    Ron Tyler Award, Texas Historical Society

2008      West of Last Chance. Photographic book. Text by Kent Haruf. W.W. Norton, New York

                    Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize

1999      On the Plains. Photographic book. Introduction by Kathleen Norris. W.W. Norton, New York.

                    Alfred Eisenstaedt Award & Fred Whitehead Award.

1988      Seasons of Light. Photographic book. Afterword and poems by Denise Levertov.

                    Rice University Press, Houston. Imogen Cunningham Award.

1982      Seasons of Light. Portfolio of dye transfer prints and accompanying texts.

                    Stanford University Art Department Press.

Other Selected Publications

The New Yorker, Harpers, Texas Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, Aperture, Photo District News, PhotoIcon, 5280, LIFE, Dwell, Milk, Duke Magazine, Stanford Magazine, SPOT, DoubleTake, House and Garden, Popular Photography, Landscape Architecture, FotoMetro, American Photographer, CITE, Image, Aura, Sequoia, The Stanford Review and others.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2018 

  • Hometown Texas, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX*

2017 

  • A History of Photography: Selections from the Museum’s Collection. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

  • American Photographs 1845 to Now, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

  • Plains Song, a Thirty Year Retrospective, Rudolph Blume/Artscan Gallery, Houston TX*

2016 

  • Faculty Exhibition, Glasscock School, Rice University, Houston TX

2015 

  • Faculty Exhibition, Glasscock School, Rice University, Houston TX

  • West of Last Chance, Highland Community College, Highland, Kansas

  • West of Last Chance, Mari Sandoz High Plains Center, Chadron, Nebraska

2014 

  • West of Last Chance, Willa Cather Institute, Red Cloud, Nebraska*

  • West of Last Chance, Public Library and Arts Center, Falls City, Nebraska

2013 

  • West of Last Chance, McCook College, McCook, Nebraska*

  • William Eggleston and His Circle and Beyond, PDNB Gallery, Dallas TX

  • West of Last Chance, Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, Nebraska*

2012 

  • Descriptions of China, Institute of Texas Cultures, UTSA Gallery, San Antonio TX

2011 

  • The Eyes of Texas, Peter Brown, Keith Carter, Earlie Hudnall, George Krause, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX

  •  Infinite Horizon, Lishui, China

  • Situating Robert Adams, Colorado Center for the Photographic Arts, Denver, Colorado

2010 

  • Hidden Treasures, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX

  • Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

2009 

  • John Cleary Memorial Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston TX

  • American Landscape, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • Texas Landscapes, Houston City Hall, Houston, TX

  • Topiary, Text, Lead, Houston Arts Alliance, Gallery 125, Houston, TX

2008 

  • West of Last Chance, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • West of Last Chance, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX*

  • West of Last Chance, Stephen Clark Gallery, Austin, TX*

  • West of Last Chance, Sandy Carson Gallery, Denver, CO*

  • West of Last Chance, Stephen Bulger Gallery,Toronto, ON*

  • West of Last Chance, Highland Gallery, Marfa, TX*

2007 

  • Houston Wilderness, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

  • High Plains, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • Llano Estacado, Island in the Sky, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2005 

  • Llano Estacado, Island in the Sky, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

2004 

  • Picturing the Modern World, James Nicholson Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • Extreme Houses, Lothringer Dreizehn, Munich, & Halle 14, Leipzig , Germany

2003 

  • On The Plains,Texas Tech University, Art and Architecture Galleries, Lubbock, TX*

  • Masterworks of American Photography, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX

2002 

  • Safe Haven: Picturing Domestic Space, Camerawork, San Francisco, CA

  •  In The Orchard, Harris Gallery, FotoFest Exhibition, Houston, TX *

  •  Open Spaces, Texas Places, Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX

2001 

  • Itinerances, L’art Fix en Mouvement, Hotel de Divonne, Arles, France

2000 

  • Crossing State Lines: Texas Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX

  • Western Views, Transamerica Pyramid Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • On the Plains, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA*

  • On the Plains, Stephen Clark Gallery, Austin, TX*

  •  On the Plains, Center for Documentary Studies, Durham, NC*

  • On the Plains, Galveston Art Center, Galveston, TX*                                                         

  • On the Plains, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • On the Plains, Kilgore College, Kilgore, TX*

  • Martin Margulies Collection, Florida International University, Miami, FL

1998 

  • Recipients, Diverse Works, Houston, TX

  •  Inside These Walls, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

  • Altered Landscape, ArtScan Gallery, Houston, TX

1997 

  • Lone Star: Reconsidering Texas, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX

1996 

  • Great Plains, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • Social Landscape, Laura Russo Gallery, Portland, OR.

1995 

  • Great Plains, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR*

1994 

  • Focus '94, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA

1996 

  • Recent Acquisitions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

  • Light Fantastic, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, TX

  • Great Plains, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

1993

  • Texas Focus, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

  • Close to Home, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • Seeing the Forest In the Trees, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX

1992 

  • Our Town, Burden Gallery, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY

1991 

  • The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY;

  • The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD;

  • The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

  • The Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort, The Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH

  • The Mundy Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

1990 

  • High Plains/Plain Views, Farish Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX*

  • Houston Photographers, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

1989 

  • Messages from the South, Sewall Gallery, Rice University, Houston, TX

  • The Prehistoric in Contemporary Art, The New York State Museum, Albany, NY

1988 

  • One Plus One, The Museum of Fine Arts, Glassell School, Houston, TX

  • Visiones de Tejanos/Visions of Texans, Institute of Mexican Culture, San Antonio, TX

  • (exhibition travels through Mexico and Central America 1988-1990)

1987 

  • Heath, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • New American Talent, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, TX and subsequent travels

1986 

  • Three From Houston, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX

  • Ten Texas Photographers, The Abilene Museum of Fine Arts, Abilene, TX

1985 

  • Peter Brown, Recent Work, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • Seasons of Light, The Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX*

  • Southwest '85, Santa Fe Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM

  • Houston Photographers From The Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

1984 

  • Peter Brown, George Krause, Geoff Winningham, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX

  •  Seasons of Light, Canon Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland*

  • Seasons of Light, Alphaville Gallery, Piacenza, Italy*

  • Photography, Smith-Anderson Gallery, Palo Alto, CA

1983 

  • Seasons of Light, Focus Gallery, San Francisco, CA*

  • Seasons of Light, Harris Gallery, Houston, TX*

  • Seasons of Light, The Waco Art Center, Waco, TX*

1982 

  • Michelangelo and the Bull, The Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA*

  • Kunst Fra Houston i Norge/Art from Houston to Norway, Stavenger Museum of Art, Stavenger,

  • Norway and subsequent travels

  •  Contemporary Photography as Phantasy, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA and subsequent travels

  • Peter Brown, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH*          

  • Color from the Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX                                     

  • New American Landscape, Mancini Gallery, Houston, TX

1981 

  • Peter Brown, Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, CA*

1980 

  • Thanks to Leo Stanford University Art Gallery, Stanford, CA

  • Peter Brown, Focus Gallery, San Francisco, CA*

  • Emerging Texas Photographers, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, TX

  •  New Color Photography, Carson-Sapiro Gallery, Denver, CO

1979 

  • Tony Cronin Memorial, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

1978 

  • Peter Brown, Smith-Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, CA*

1977 

  • Painting and Photography: An Exhibition of MFA Work, Stanford University Art Gallery, CA

1976 

  • American Photography, Andromeda Gallery, Buffalo, NY;

  • American Photography, Miami-Dade College, Miami, FL and subsequent travels.

  • Bicentennial Commission Exhibition of American Photography       

TEACHING

The Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, Rice University 1978 - present

The Glasscock School Teaching Prize 2007 (first awarded)

Rice University, Art Department 1978 - 1992

Stanford University Art Department 1975 – 1977

Various workshops, Houston Center for Photography and elsewhere

COMMUNITY

Houston Center for Photography. Founding Member, Board, current Advisory Board

Houston FotoFest, past Art Board

Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, Rice University, Advisory Board

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Hirsch Library Board 2009-2012

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

  • The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX

  • The Menil Collection, Houston, TX

  • The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

  • The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

  • The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

  • The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

  • The Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX

  • The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

  • The Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX

  • The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA

  • The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA

  • The Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, NE

  • The Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

  • The Stanford University Museum of Art, Stanford, CA

  • The Rice University Collection, Houston, TX

  • The Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE

  • The University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

  • The Spencer Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

  • The Center for Great Plains Studies Art Collection, University of Nebraska, NE

  • The University of Kentucky Museum of Art, Lexington, KY

  • The Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, Nebraska

  • The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

  • The Davenport Art Museum, Davenport, IA

  • The Graham Center Museum, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

  • The Louisville Photo Archives, Louisville, KY

  • The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH

  • The Snipe Museum, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN

  • The University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX

  • The University of Texas, Austin, TX

  • The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio. TX

  • The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX

  • The Gernsheim Collection, The University of Texas, Austin, TX

  • The University of Oklahoma Museum of Art, Norman, OK

  • The San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, CA

  • Dwell Collection, San Francisco, CA

  • The Piton Foundation, Boulder, CO

  • The Brown Foundation, Houston, TX

  • Nankai University, Nankai, China

  • The United States State Department

  • PaineWebber Collection, New York.

  • First National Bank, Boston, Massachusetts.

  • Fidelity Investments, Boston, Massachusetts.

  • A.G. Edwards, St. Louis, Missouri.

  • A.M. SouthBank, Birmingham, Alabama.

  • Sprint, Wichita, Kansas

  • Sterling Winthrop Collection, Collegeville, Pennsylvania

  • Philadelphia Project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Fluor, Denver, Colorado.

  • Amoco, Denver, Colorado.

  • First National Bank, Denver, Colorado.

  • Q Up Systems, Austin, Texas.

  • Vinson and Elkins, Austin, Texas.

  • The Four Seasons, Austin, Texas

  • Graves, Dougherty, Hearon and Moody, Austin, Texas.

  • USSA, San Antonio, Texas.

  • First USA Bank, Dallas, Texas.

  • Sidley and Austin, Dallas, Texas.

  • The Houstonian, Houston, Texas.

  • Compaq, Houston, Texas.

  • Microsoft, Houston, Texas.

  • KPMG, Houston, Texas.

  • Duke Energy, Houston, Texas.

  • ERI, Houston, Texas.

  • Wilson Industries, Houston, Texas.

  • Texas Gas, Houston, Texas.

  • M Bank, Houston, Texas.

  • Interfirst Bank, Houston, Texas.

  • Latigo, Houston, Texas.

  • Vinson & Elkins, Houston, Texas.

  • Armogida & Coats, Houston, Texas.

  • Aikin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Houston, Texas.

  • Engelhard & Polland, Houston, Texas.

  • Mayor, Caldwell, & Day, Houston, Texas.

  • Schlanger, Cook, Cohn, Mills, & Grossberg, Houston, Texas.

  • Thomson and Knight, Houston, Texas.

  • NCNB Bank, Houston, Texas

  • Interfin, Houston, Texas

  • Caddell and Conwell, Houston, Texas