Roger Brown

Roger Brown, a key figure in American art of the 1960s and 1970s, is most closely associated with the Chicago Imagists, though his roots remained firmly Southern. Born in Hamilton, Alabama, and raised in Opelika, Brown left a traditional upbringing to pursue art in Chicago. He studied at the American Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Influenced by teachers such as Ray Yoshida, museum collections, and self-taught and folk artists, Brown developed a highly personal visual language outside the artistic mainstream.
Brown became synonymous with Chicago Imagism, a loosely affiliated movement emphasizing individual expression and inspiration drawn from naïve, folk, and popular culture. His vividly narrative paintings addressed political, religious, and social themes drawn from daily life and personal history. Rejecting rigid classification, Brown viewed art as a means of inventing a new language to communicate his experience of his time.