Frances Carroll Brown, Portrait of a Woman, no date, oil on canvas, 18 x 15 inches

Granddaughter of Marcus Daly, Frances Carroll Brown had strong ties to Montana and the Bitterroot Valley. She regularly visited the Stock Farm outside of Hamilton to attend social events and celebrate holidays.

She traveled to Europe and lived in France before fleeing at the onset of WWII. Her psychological portraits are artistically and historically significant, ranging in subject from workers and day laborers to members of high society. Brown’s work is fundamentally humanistic, revealing a fascination with a variety of racial, religious and class background, emphasizing the essential unity of people everywhere.

Frances Carroll Brown’s art contributes to an expanding category of significant female artists who played a compelling role in Montana’s art history. It is estimated that some of the pieces were done in the 1930s and 1940s, then some done later in the 1960s.