Bidspirit auction | Christopher Brown ”Zapruder” Painting 1995

Christopher Brown ”Zapruder” Painting 1995 - Christopher Brown (American, b. 1951). Oil on canvas painting titled ”Zapruder” depicting the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 1995. Signed and dated along the verso. Provenance: Edward Thorp Gallery, 1999; From the Estate of Gary Fink. Lot Essay: Christopher Brown, born in 1951 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, is an American painter whose work is deeply rooted in memory and perception. His early interest in art began in childhood after his family moved to Ohio, and he later studied painting at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. He earned his MFA at the University of California, Davis, where he studied under notable artists such as Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, and Manuel Neri, and developed a strong interest in the media-driven concepts of Pop Art. A formative year spent in Europe on a grant, particularly in Spain and Germany, deepened his engagement with European art traditions. After returning to the U.S., Brown lived in various California communities, taught part-time, and wrote for Artweek magazine. He later received a DAAD Fellowship to return to Munich, and upon his return became a faculty member in the studio art department at UC Berkeley, where he taught from 1981 to 1994 and served as Department Chair. Brown lives and works in Berkeley, California. In an Interview with The Bott Collection in 2023, Brown had the following to say about the subject of the Zapruder film and his art: ”For reasons I didn’t really understand, I became fascinated by 19th-century photographs of the Civil War and photographic “stills” taken from the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination, and my attempts to make paintings based on both were attempts to explore my own fascination. Many people naturally thought I was deeply interested in history, that I was a Civil War buff, etcetera, but that was never really the case. My interest was visual, primarily, and had to do with the challenges of describing the past rather than the present, with uncertainty and movement rather than still-life-like clarity.” Gary C. Fink was a collector with both a lighthearted sense of humor and a serious commitment to art. Through the Museum Louvre It or Leave It, he offered Minnesotans an offbeat, thought-provoking experience; through MIA gifts, he broadened institutional collections; and through his scholarship, he continues to enable the next generation of artists. A Renaissance soul in the heart of Minnesota’s art community, Gary C. Fink was more than an astute collector - he was a spirited patron whose unconventional vision left an indelible mark on the creative landscape. Height: 30 in x width 36 in x depth: 1 1/4 in. Condition: Please email us at condition@revereauctions.com for a condition report or additional photos.