Grafton T Brown

Gratton T. Brown (1841-1918) was an African-American artist. He is said to be the first black artist to depict scenes in California. Born in Pennsylvania, he moved to California in the 1860s and worked for the lithographic firm of C.C. Kuchel before founding his own lithography shop. The firm of G.T. Brown & Co. issued lithographs in many formats, including song sheets, bank notes, stock certificates, an Illustrated History of San Mateo County, maps, views, and promotional broadsides like this. Brown left California for Canada in 1882, where he set up a studio as a landscape artist. When the economy became depressed in the early 1890s, Brown was able to sign on as a draftsman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Paul, Minnesota. He traveled around the upper American mid-west preparing maps, charts and views for the Corps until 1897, at which time he was hired by the City of St. Paul in its Civil Engineering Department. During his time in California, Brown was important for recording many scenes of the state's nascent development, his prints being treasured for their scarcity and first-hand depiction of the American frontier.