Chinese Dancer

Byron Browne, Chinese Dancer, 1949, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.8

Byron Browne created abstract images that often suggest recognizable forms. In Chinese Dancer the arrangement of shapes and lines evokes a tall figure in a swirling costume, captured in a fast-moving dance. He focused on the surface of the painting, creating a pattern that carries our eyes from the bright shape in the center, around the white diamonds and curves, to the stars scattered over the vivid pink background.

“I feel the tradition of art to be behind every picture I do. There cannot be a new art without a solid basis in understanding of past art.” Browne, 1948, quoted in Rand, Byron Browne: Paintings & Drawings from the 30’s, 40’s, & 50’s, 1987

Title

Chinese Dancer

Artist

Byron Browne

Date

1949

Location

Dimensions