James Brown was both a painter and a musician. As a musician, he was an authority on string music and the originator of Poly-chordia, a teaching method and repertory for young string players. It was not until late in life that he began to paint seriously.

He was already in his fiftieth year when, in 1912, his work was noticed by the distinguished critic Frank Rutter in an exhibition in Richmond. Rutter sought him out and took him to meet Lucien Pissaro.

As a result of Pissaro’s help and encouragement, coupled with the stimulus of meeting J.B.Manson, Ludovic Rodo Pissaro and Maurice Asselin, Brown became fired with an immense enthusiasm for painting. He endeavoured to understand the principles of impressionism and developed his own interpretation of it.

Apart from one or two early attempts, Brown never showed his work in public. Hence, it has been hitherto known only to a small circle of friends. Many of the paintings are signed with the pseudonym “P.Conway” which Brown used for some years, but later he returned to his own name.