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Lot Essay
Braun was born in Hungary, and immigrated with his family to New York when he was four. Beginning in 1888, he studied at the National Academy of Design, where he studied still life and portrait painting under George W. Maynard, Edgar M. Ward and Francis C. Jones. Braun then devoted a year of study with William Merritt Chase before leaving for Europe in 1902 to study and copy Old Masters paintings. Returning to New York, he established a reputation as a figure and portrait painter.
In 1910, Braun’s affiliation with the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, of which he had been a member since college and which espoused the merging of truths common to all religions, brought him to California. A special part of that religion was light as a metaphor, a technique that he perfected in his painting. Settling in San Diego, Braun changed his focus to landscape painting. He received national recognition for his Impressionistic landscapes set in the southern California hills, the High Sierras and the Southwest desert.
In 1912, he founded the San Diego Academy of Art and was its director for many years. He also co-founded the San Diego Art Guild in 1915. In addition, he co-founded the Contemporary Artists in San Diego in 1929. He returned to the East in 1921 and established studios in New York City, Silvermine and Old Lyme, Connecticut. Several years later he returned to San Diego, but from 1924 to 1929 continued to spend part of each year in the East.
With layers of color and form, Braun presents an amiable circuitous path into a seasonably rich New England vista.
In 1910, Braun’s affiliation with the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, of which he had been a member since college and which espoused the merging of truths common to all religions, brought him to California. A special part of that religion was light as a metaphor, a technique that he perfected in his painting. Settling in San Diego, Braun changed his focus to landscape painting. He received national recognition for his Impressionistic landscapes set in the southern California hills, the High Sierras and the Southwest desert.
In 1912, he founded the San Diego Academy of Art and was its director for many years. He also co-founded the San Diego Art Guild in 1915. In addition, he co-founded the Contemporary Artists in San Diego in 1929. He returned to the East in 1921 and established studios in New York City, Silvermine and Old Lyme, Connecticut. Several years later he returned to San Diego, but from 1924 to 1929 continued to spend part of each year in the East.
With layers of color and form, Braun presents an amiable circuitous path into a seasonably rich New England vista.