Man on Bicycle

David Brownlow started creating art at the age of five in Fort Worth, TX. He studied art under Margaret Littlejohn and Patti East. He taught himself to paint by reading art books and experimented with knives and wire as painting tools which lead to his thick textured and exacting lines.

He earned a permanent spot in North Texas Art history as a member of the Fort Worth Circle. The Fort Worth Circle was a group of painters who transformed the regions art scene after World War II. Mr. Brownlow’s experimentation led to success in producing modernist and abstract pieces, said Morris Matson, a Fort Worth art collector and former City Council member.

He’s probably as widely collected as any Forth Worth artist because he was so prolific,” Matson said. “Anybody that collects art in Fort Worth knows who David Brownlow is.”

Henry B. Caldwell, former director of the Fort Worth Art Center commented: "Brownlow's painting has vigor and a precious of touch that separates it sharply from the contemporary 'happen-stance' school. His work has strength with an underlying appeal for order; his concern with space and color holds fascination to both the traditional as well as abstract painting."

Jerry Bywaters, the director of the Dallas Museum of Art, had the following to say about Brownlow's work: "Colors, however subtle, plays a greater part; the cool and calculated designs of the past give way to greater freedom in the act of execution and a direct form of expressionism is in command…."

Born Feb. 18, 1915 Mr. Brownlow was raised on a farm in Tarrant County. He began painting when he was about 4, said his daughter, Pricscilla McCoy.

Mr. Brownlow learned what he could from books in the Fort Worth Public Library. He also received encouragement from his junior high school art teacher and from studying local artist Patio R. East’s work, according to biographical information compiled by local art historian Scot Grant Barker.

During the war, Mr. Brownlow worked as a sheet metal fabricator at North American Aviation in Grand Prairie, according to Barker. Later, he worked in the engineering testing department at General Dynamics. He quit in 1957 to devote himself full-time to art, McCoy said.

Mr. Brownlow worked with palette knife. He was known for abstractions of architectural forms, most often cathedrals but also cityscapes, oil derricks and other subjects, according to Barker.

Mr. Brownlow was also a devoted husband, caring for his wife, Margie, after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, McCoy said.

His work is included in the collections of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Amarillo Museum of Art and several others

Brownlow's work has been collected by: Bob Hope, Winthrop Rockefeller, Edward Marcus, Charles Tandy, Angus Wynn and Ralph Bellamy. His paintings can be found in the following permanent collections: Smithsonian Institute, Dallas Museum of Art, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Beaumont Art Museum and The Worchester Museum, Massachusetts.