Grafton Tyler Brown, Castle Geyser, Yellowstone, 1890. Oil paint on canvas; 21.125 x 14.375 in. The William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection at the Denver Art Museum, by exchange, 2020.657

height: 21.125 in, 53.6575 cm; width: 14.375 in, 36.5125 cm; frame height: 28 in, 71.12 cm; frame width: 21 1/8 in, 53.6575 cm; frame depth: 2 3/4 in, 6.985 cm

Signed and inscribed at lower left: G T Brown 90

Petrie Institute of Western American Art

Petrie Institute of Western American Art

This object is currently on view

Grafton Tyler Brown came to his career as a painter nontraditionally. Born to free Black parents in Pennsylvania, Brown moved to California as a teenager. In San Francisco, he owned and operated his own lithography business. Around 1880, he sold that business to take up oil painting. By 1890, he was living in Helena, Montana, and painting Yellowstone National Park, both of which were accessible by the Northern Pacific Railway.

Grafton Tyler Brown llegó a ser pintor por caminos poco tradicionales. Nacido en Pensilvania de padres negros libres, se mudó a California en su adolescencia. En San Francisco estableció su propio negocio de litografía, y hacia 1880 lo vendió para dedicarse a la pintura al óleo. En 1890 se había radicado en Helena, Montana, donde pintaba vistas del parque nacional de Yellowstone, ambos lugares ya conectados por el Ferrocarril del Pacífico Norte.