Brown came to national prominence in the late 1950s with his large-scale bronze Meat Porters, commissioned for Harlow New Town, Essex. Prior to this, he won a number of scholarships including a trip to Paris to work in the studio of Ossip Zadkine where he also saw work by Rodin and Germain Richier and met Giacometti. During his time in Paris he did many life sketches of the beggars and homeless on the streets with the intention of making a large life size piece called ‘The Wall’. Unfortunately it never came to fruition but Tragic Group which Brown made on his return as a potential application to the Unknown Political Prisoner Award did.

Brown’s approach to the figure was classical in its modelling but unique in its savage yet sensual approach. On his return to England, Brown’s work attracted much critical acclaim and was shown alongside his contemporaries Armitage, William Turnbull and Eduardo Paolozzi. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, when abstraction prevailed in British sculpture, Brown remained faithful to the human figure.

Brown was elected a Royal Academician in 1972 and his work can be found in many prestigious public collections including the Tate Collection, Arts Council of Great Britain, Leeds City Art Gallery and many other public collections in Britain and overseas. Pangolin London is delighted to represent the estate of Ralph Brown.