2026 Update: Frederick J. Brown

May 21, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

During the pandemic, a woman named Maya was stuck in a weekly Mario Kart hangout with her boyfriend’s friends, feeling out of her depth both in the game and in the conversation. Then one night, she mentioned a painting she had found in a pile of trash on a Brooklyn sidewalk. It was large, colorful, and abstract, with tiny recognizable figures woven into the bands of paint. She had carried it home, cleaned it up, and discovered an inscription on the back: “Painted nineteen seventy nine December. Title Genesis Two Love Happy Birthday From Frederick to Larry Sims.” Maya worked in the art world, but the name Frederick J. Brown was unfamiliar to her. When she Googled him, she found a New York Times obituary from 2012 praising Brown as an acclaimed Black artist whose work was in the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting she had pulled from the garbage was the work of an important artist, and she wanted to return it to its rightful owner, the curator and art historian Lowery Sims.

The search for Lowery Sims

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What you'll learn

1 (01:38) **The Found Painting** - A Mario Kart hangout leads to Maya telling the story of finding a large painting in a pile of trash on a Brooklyn sidewalk.
2 (06:04) **Visiting Maya and the Painting** - The reporter visits Maya's art-filled Brooklyn apartment to see the painting in person and understand its pull.
3 (10:43) **The Clue on the Back** - A discovery on the back of the canvas provides a crucial clue about the painting's original owner.
4 (12:22) **Tracking Down Lowry Sims** - The reporter struggles to make contact with the esteemed curator, who is initially hesitant.
5 (18:20) **Authenticating the Painting** - The reporter contacts Frederick Brown's trust and speaks with his son, Bentley, who confirms the painting is real.
6 (19:26) **Bentley Meets the Painting** - Bentley drives from the Bronx to Maya's apartment to see his father's lost work for the first time.
7 (21:26) **Frederick Brown's Rise and Struggle** - The story of Frederick Brown's career, from his Chicago childhood to his early success in New York.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Maia found a painting in the garbage and took it home. But as it turned out, it wasn’t just any painting.

In this update, Kalila learns that she might have been looking at the painting all wrong.

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This episode was hosted and produced by Kalila Holt, along with Jonathan Goldstein. Our supervising producer is Stevie Lane. Production help from Damiano Marchetti. Special thanks to Sam Reisman, Emily Condon, Alex Blumberg, Lydia Polgreen, Marcy Flynn, Karl McCool, Caitlin Kenney, and Kayla Lattimore. The show was mixed by Bobby Lord. Music by Christine Fellows, John K Samson, Blue Dot Sessions, Michael Hearst, Sun Shapes, and Bobby Lord. Our theme song is by The Weakerthans courtesy of Epitaph Records. Mixing on this update by Sarah Bruguiere.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.