​BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831–⁠), American painter, was born in Durham, England, on the 11th of November 1831. He studied at Newcastle-on-Tyne, in the Edinburgh Academy, and after removing to New York City in 1853, at the schools of the National Academy of Design of which he afterwards became a member. In 1866 he became one of the charter members of the Water-Colour Society, of which he was president from 1887 to 1904. He generally confined himself to representations of street child life, bootblacks, newsboys, &c.; his “Passing Show” (Paris, Salon, 1877) and “Street Boys at Play” (Paris Exhibition, 1900) are good examples of his popular talent.