Franz Brown was born in 1950 in Yonkers, New York, the third of eight children. His father, Reynold Brown, had begun his career in illustration just a few years earlier. (Reynold Brown was about to become one of the star figures in the illustration of movie posters. He died in 1991.) His mother, Mary Louise (Tejeda) Brown, had started a career as an artist in Los Angeles in 1941 but set her art career aside to raise the family's eight children. She married Reynold in 1946.) The family moved to California in 1951 where Franz grew up in Temple City and then La Verne, both near Los Angeles.
Franz went to grammar school at our Lady of Assumption school in Claremont, CA, a Catholic school taught at the time by Benedictine nuns. He went to high school at Damien High in La Verne, CA (1963-1968). It was thought at the time that he had potential for the sciences.
He joined the Navy Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC) at the University of Washington, Seattle in 1968 with the intention of going into Oceanography. Contact with and admiration for faculty members of the Russian Area Department caused him to switch to that area of study. Franz Brown received a Bachelor's degree in Russian Area Studies from the University of Washington in 1972 and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. At the time the North Vietnamese were conquering South Vietnam. Brown watched with relief as the United States decided not to spend any more time and lives in Vietnam. He served 7 1/2 years in the Marine Corps working in Communications and Electronic Warfare and eventually reached the rank of Captain. He served mainly in California (First Medical Battalion), Okinawa (Communications Company, Third Marine Division), Korea and Hawaii (First Radio Battalion).
He returned to California where he obtained a Master's Degree in Mass Communications from California State University, Northridge, CA in 1987.
He has since then been doing free-lance work as a writer and photographer, specializing in the arts. His articles have appeared in Southwest Art Magazine, US Art and Outdoor Photographer, Black Hills Travel Host and Black Hills FACES Magazine.
He has also helped to promote the work of his father and mother as well as doing his own artwork on the side. He assisted in the organizing of materials for "The Man Who Drew Bug-Eyed Monsters" a television documentary on the life and art of Reynold Brown which appeared on National Public Television and AMC.
One of his favorite activities has been his cooperation with fine artist Tom Browning in Browning's production of a series of paintings depicting Santa Claus in traditional scenes as well as his Time-Off series. He is now seen across the US as well as a number of foreign countries as Browning's Santa Claus images that appear on prints, cards and a multitude of consumer products during the Christmas season.
Franz Brown currently resides in Hot Springs, South Dakota where he continues to write and paint. He is a "Signature Member of the Artists of the Black Hills."
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06/13/2007