Decline and Fall

1995
Brown, Glenn
Glenn Brown's paintings are based on reproductions of paintings by other artists, including Salvador Dali, Willem de Kooning and Rembrandt. 'Decline and Fall' is based on a portrait by Frank Auerbach, one of the senior figures in British art, whose painting is remarkable for its exceptional thickness of paint. Glenn Brown says: 'When I work from thick surfaced paintings.... they've almost all been portrait heads. In all of them there was originally a model sitting in a chair in the studio who gets characterised by the artist. He finishes it and it gets photographed. Then the photograph gets turned into print, which gets put into a book. I get that book and do my painting from it. Through those stages, the original person gets further and further back. Further and further lost, further removed. The whole notion that there was a character underneath the image kept me wanting to do them. It was that sense of loss, as if they were ghosts.' Ann Jones
  • Artwork Details: 58.4 x 54.6cm
  • Edition:
  • Material description: oil and canvas on board
  • Credit line: © the artist
  • Theme: Abstract
  • Medium: Painting
  • Accession number: ACC9/1995

Share

Close
Artists
Artworks
Exhibitions
Articles
Other

The Arts Council Collection is the UK's most widely seen collection of modern and contemporary art.

With more than 8,000 works by over 2,000 artists, it can be seen in exhibitions and public displays across the country and beyond. This website offers unprecedented access to the Collection, and information about each work can be found on this site.