Percy Brown (art historian)

{{Infobox person

| name = Percy Brown

| image =

| alt =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1872

| birth_place = Birmingham, United Kingdom

| death_date = {{Death-date and age|1955|1872}}

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| known_for =

| alma_mater = Royal College of Art

| occupation = Principal of the Mayo School of Arts
Curator of the Lahore Museum
Principal of the Government School of Art in Kolkata
Secretary and curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum

}}

Percy Brown (1872–1955) was a renowned British scholar, artist, art critic, historian and archaeologist,{{cite book |title=Indian Art at Delhi 1903 |author=Sir George Watt |year=1987 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=9788120802780 |pages=546 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oc_oAfZLKnoC&q=percy+brown+was+principal+of+lahore+museum&pg=PA549 |access-date=9 April 2012}} well known as an author on Indian architecture and art, especially for his studies on Greco-Bactrian art.{{cite journal |year=1907 |title=The Popular Science Monthly |journal=Popular Science |page=494 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yUDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Percy+Brown%2C+artist+and+archeolo-gist%22&pg=PA493 |access-date=9 April 2012 }}

Life and career

Brown was born in Birmingham in 1872.{{cite book |title=British Drawings in the India Office Library |last=Archer |first=Mildred |year=1995 |publisher=H.M.S.O. | page=65 |isbn=9780118804165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnvqAAAAMAAJ&q=Brown%2C+Percy+%281872-1955%29+Born+Birmingham.+Studied+at+local+art+school+and+Royal+College+of+Art%2C+ARCA+1898.+Indian+Education+Service+1899-+1927.+Principal+of+the+Mayo+School+of+Art+and+Curator+of+Lahore+Museum+1+899-1+909 |access-date=4 April 2012}} He began his studies at a local art school and then studied at the Royal College of Art, where he graduated in 1898.

He was part of the Indian Education Service for 28 years, from 1899 until 1927.{{cite book |title=Imperfect encounter: letters of William Rothenstein and Rabindranath Tagore, 1911–1941 |last=Rothenstein |first=William |author2=Tagore Rabindranath |year=1972 |publisher=Harvard University Press | page=174 |isbn=9780674445123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Sk3AAAAIAAJ&q=Brown,+Percy,+1872-1955 |access-date=4 April 2012}}

He became principal of the Mayo School of Arts (today the National College of Arts) in Lahore and curator of the Lahore Museum. In 1909, he left Lahore to be succeeded in the position of principal of the Mayo School of Arts by Ram Singh, who held this post until 1913.{{cite book |title=Colonialism and the object: empire, material culture, and the museum |last=Barringer |first=Tim |author2=Tom Flynn |year=1998 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415157759 | page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpmEtcjmRVQC&q=Percy+Brown+became+Principal+of&pg=PA80 |access-date=4 April 2012}} The same year, he became the principal of the Government School of Art in Kolkata. He retired in 1927 and became secretary and curator of the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata. He held the post until 1947 after which he spent his remaining days in Srinagar.{{Cite web|title=Brown, Percy|url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000011616|access-date=2020-08-14|website=Grove Art Online|year=2003|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T011616|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4|last1=Vernoit|first1=S. J.}}

Notable works

Brown was one of the first writers to have concentrated exclusively on Indian and Buddhist architecture.{{cite book |title=Buddhist Architecture |author=Le Huu Phuoc |year=2010 |publisher=Grafikol |isbn=9780984404308 | page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&q=percy+brown+studies&pg=PA4 |access-date=9 April 2012}} He wrote several important books on architecture and art, including the two-volume Indian Architecture (Volume I: Buddhist and Hindu Periods and Volume II: Islamic Period) in 1940.{{cite book |title=Against the current: the life of Lain Singh Bangdel, writer, painter, and art historian of Nepal |last=Messerschmidt |first=Donald Alan|author2=Dina Bangdel |year=2004 |publisher=Orchid Press |isbn=9745240524 | page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SevqAAAAMAAJ&q=Brown,+Percy,+1872-1955 |access-date=4 April 2012}} Other notable works of his include A descriptive guide to the Department of archaeology & antiquities (1908),{{cite web|url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Brown%2C%20Percy%2C%201872-1955|title=Online books by Percy Brown |access-date=4 April 2012}} Picturesque Nepal (1912),

Indian painting (1918), and Tours in Sikhim and the Darjeeling District (1922).