Overview

Homo sapiens are defined by wisdom, symbolic thought and tool making: these attributes are a prerequisite for, and embodied in, the development and use of the artists’ brush. Indeed, the brush is emblematic of H. sapiens’ ability to create representational art, write and to communicate. This unique book, for the first time, examines the evolution and importance of the artists’ brush over time and geography. Extensively researched and referenced, it details the development and use of the brush from deep history to modern day, placing the brush in the context of the cultures in which it was used. Richly illustrated it describes works on rock, walls (murals and frescoes), ceramics, textiles, panels (stone, wood), codices, calligraphic manuscripts and other peinture d'objets [painted objects]. The history of art is re-told placing the brush at its centre - a tool, which in the hand of an artist, is responsible for some of the greatest and defining insignia of mankind. This book sheds light on historic artistic practices in Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas that are frequently overlooked and under reported in academic literature. Bayliss Brown’s scholarship is commendable and the chapters on brush anatomy, physics and mark making are essential reading for any artist or historian. The Artists’ Brush is a masterpiece and deserves to be in every school, university and bookcase of any serious artist - it is surprising that it has never been written before.

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9781913460730

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Reviews

"This impressive study of the brush in all its multiple forms [is] exhaustively examined in this extraordinary piece of scholarship which, in its diversity, becomes a celebration of human creativity…a panoply of human inventiveness as interesting to Anthropologists as to Art Historians and to Artists themselves."" Sir Antony Gormley RA.This book … opens our eyes … bringing to light arguably one of the most important instruments in creative expression, the artists’ brush…This fascinating book provides valuable scholarship in the history, manufacture and physics of the humble brush, and interrogates the elegance of this tool; Professor Paul Fieldsend-Danks, Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Fine Art, Arts University Plymouth"

Author Information

Philip Bayliss Brown was born in Essex and studied medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. He pursued a career in General Practice coupled with a series of Medical Informatic academic appointments specialising in the development of computerised health care ontologies for use in electronic medical records. Philip is a life time scholar of historical art techniques and following retirement from clinical practice obtained an MA in Fine Art and trained in portraiture in London, Salisbury and Florence. He has had a number of solo shows in the UK and Italy and also joint exhibitions elsewhere in Europe, the USA and China. He has been shortlisted for a number of awards including the Signature art prize (2015), Deutsche Bank Award (2017) and the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize (2019). His last supper painting, The Weight of Blood was longlisted for the National Portrait Gallery BP award and formed the focus of a solo exhibition in Westminster Cathedral, London. His passion for the subject matter, experience as an academic writer and a practicing painter, has serendipitously placed him in the fortuitous position to author this definitive account of The Artist’s Brush. Philip lives with his wife and dog in Norfolk, England and Umbria, Italy.

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