Untitled (pensive woman)  1967 charcoal on paper by  Theophilus Brown 15 1/ x 13 1/2 “ (39,4 x 34,3 cm) framed 22 1/4 x 19 1/4 (56,6 x 48,9 cm)
Ex collection of  Bret and Mary Lou Waller actor and curator ex director of the Indianapolis Museum and the Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor
 
Here is a drawing that  just arrived. It is a portrait of Dory Previn Langan. Lyricist, songwriter and American poet (1925-2012) she was the second wife of André Previn (59-70). They collaborated  in the composition of many film scores. Notably the 1967 movie Valley of the Dolls (theme lyrics by Dory Previn sang by Dianne Warwick ) the  year this drawing was produced by artist and long time family friend Theophilus Brown.
Her look is pensive, her head coiffed in beehive of the time  placed on a fragile Twiggy-style body her left  cheek rests on her large hand with long gnarled fingers. The hand of a musician  she played the piano, the violin, the saxophone the flute the clarinet the drums, the guitar among other instruments The image is touching and melancholic. Maybe she already knows that 23 years old Mia Farrow is  already settled in London with her husband Andre Previn. A fear of flying  prevents her from joining him.
The story  I trace behind the drawing might sound  for some a little too heavy but one can choose its  own way of looking at her. After all it’s  the swinging 60’s and the artist Theophilus Brown is at his creative peak. His fluid drawing made of broken and  re-connected lines, where emotional movement is  palpable is a fine example of Brown drawing skills, instinctive and loose. the human figure directed internally connected by the drawing lines in and around the abstract and negative space.
Brown was a prominent member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the late 50’s and 60’s together with  Diebenkorn, David Park. Elmer Bischoff Paul Wonner Nathan Oliveira and James Weeks.