Brown, Benjamin Williams (1897-1955)
Role: Professor of English, Director of DramaticsDates:
Portrait Location: Lyman Hall 120
Artist: Duphiney, Wilfred I. (1884 - 1960)
Portrait Date: 1955 (posthumously from a photo)
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 35 1/2
Framed Dimensions: 41 1/2
Brown Portrait Number: 171
Brown Historical Property Number: 17
Benjamin Williams Brown, a direct descendant of Roger Williams and a Connecticut native, graduated from Brown in 1919. By that time, he showed great interest in theater and was involved in various acting projects, including the Albee stock company. In 1920-21 he taught at Deerfield Academy. After receiving his A.M. from Brown in 1921, he started teaching drama, public speaking and playwriting at his alma mater. In addition, he directed Sock and Buskin, Brown's theater society that was founded in 1901, expanding its program substantially. Benjamin Brown's academic career reflects his great interest in international theater. He studied in Touraine, France, and Salzburg, Austria, visited Russia and published a book on Russian theater ("Theater at the Left," 1938). He also wrote a book on play production ("Upstage, Downstage," 1947). In 1938 Benjamin Brown was named Director of Dramatic Activity at Brown and Pembroke. During the Second World War, Brown served for three years with the American Red Cross in the North Atlantic region. Brown died on January 7, 1955, following a stroke. His colleagues remembered him as an outstanding, passionate teacher. In fact, George K. Anderson, who called Benjamin Brown "a legend while still alive," noted that his "lectures were performances, and each performance was an educational experience not to be forgotten."
Wilfred Duphiney was an art instructor at Rhode Island School of Design, as well as a painter and illustrator. His work was widely exhibited around New England and is represented in a number of collegiate and public institutions in Rhode Island. He painted this portrait later in the year Brown died, based on a photograph.