Black History Month: A hunt for BC paintings

Do you have a painting signed G.T. Brown or initialed G.T.B.? Well over a century ago, in the 1880s, Grafton Tyler Brown was acclaimed as the first professional artist in BC and is famous as the first Black artist in the Pacific Northwest. A University of Victoria historian is now hoping people will take a closer look at what is hanging in their living rooms or propped up at a garage sale.

Many of Brown’s American pieces are well-known to dealers and showcased in major collections. But his BC images are much rarer and most are unaccounted for. As part of Black History Month, UVic history professor Dr. John Lutz, co-founder of the UVic-based Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History website, is asking: “Where are the BC paintings now?”

Brown’s paintings once sold for $25 to $350 but recently his best works have fetched close to $75,000. He painted in two main genres—landscape painting and “vanity” images (commissioned drawings of people’s houses, farms and businesses).

If anyone suspects they’ve got a Brown original, please contact jlutz@uvic.ca to find out more about this latest history mystery.

Visit GraftonTBrown.ca for more on the artist, his life’s work and the “missing” paintings.

Event advisory: Lutz will give a free public presentation on this fascinating character as part of activities to mark Black History Month, on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. at the James Bay New Horizons on 234 Menzies St. in Victoria.

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