Joan Brown
In the side gallery is The Students, a suite of eight paintings on paper from 1982 by Joan Brown (1938-1990). Each work depicts a cat armed with a palette and paintbrush, examining in turn depictions of cats and women from various ancient civilizations. As an avid student of the ancient world, from 1977 on Brown made regular expeditions to Egypt, China, Japan, South America, Mexico, India and beyond. She was fascinated by the parallels that exist between various belief systems, particularly how such ideas were expressed through art and architecture. The cat in these drawings – which one can assume to be Brown, a cat-lover – is at turns confused and contemplative, but ultimately satisfied, walks off, perhaps to the studio to make use of this newfound knowledge.