Percy Brown (1872–1955) was a renowned British scholar, artist, art critic, historian and archaeologist, well known as an author on

Indian architecture Indian architecture is rooted in its history, culture and religion. Among a number of architectural styles and traditions, the best-known include the many varieties of Hindu temple architecture, Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Mughal ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, especially for his studies on

Greco-Bactrian The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic-era Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the Ind ...

art.

Life and career

Brown was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in 1872. He began his studies at a local art school and then studied at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It off ...

, where he graduated in 1898. He was part of the

Indian Education Service The Indian Education Service or Indian Educational Service (IES) formed part of the British Raj between 1896 and 1924, when overseas recruitment ceased. It was an administrative organisation running educational establishments in British India, larg ...

for 28 years, from 1899 until 1927. He became principal of the Mayo School of Arts (today the National College of Arts) in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the

Lahore Museum The Lahore Museum ( pa, ; ur, ; ''"Lahore Wonder House"'') is a museum located in Lahore, Pakistan. Founded in 1865 at a smaller location and opened in 1894 at its current location on The Mall in Lahore during the British colonial period, ...

. In 1909, he left

to be succeeded in the position of principal of the Mayo School of Arts by Ram Singh, who held this post until 1913. The same year, he became the principal of the Government School of Art in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerc ...

. He retired in 1927 and became secretary and

of the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata. He held the post until 1947 after which he spent his remaining days in Srinagar.

Notable works

Brown was one of the first writers to have concentrated exclusively on Indian and Buddhist architecture. He wrote several important books on architecture and art, including the two-volume ''Indian Architecture'' (Volume I: ''Buddhist and Hindu Periods'' and Volume II: ''Islamic Period'') in 1940. Other notable works of his include ''A descriptive guide to the Department of archaeology & antiquities'' (1908), ''Picturesque Nepal'' (1912), ''Indian painting'' (1918), and ''Tours in Sikhim and the Darjeeling District'' (1922).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Percy People from Birmingham, West Midlands 1872 births 1955 deaths Indian art historians British art teachers British Indologists Alumni of the Royal College of Art British art historians British architectural historians British art critics British curators People associated with the Victoria and Albert Museum Indian Education Service officers Newar studies scholars People from Lahore Principals of the National College of Arts Historians of Indian art