Braaq

Who was Braaq?

Brian Shields was a Liverpool born English painter. He is best known for painting industrial scenes of northern Britain. He acquired the nickname "Braaq" in his school days — on account of his artistic talent he was nicknamed "Braque" after the French artist Georges Braque, a misspelling then transformed Braque into Braaq. He was the fourth child of a large family, his father Dennis Shields was an established artist, one of his brothers, also Dennis, is a Lanarkshire based sculptor and painter.

He held his first exhibition in 1974. In 1977 he was invited to hold four exhibitions in London and at this time was described by The Times as "one of the six most successful artists in England." The Liverpool Echo described him as "Liverpool's Lowry", referring to the similarity in style between his work and that of L. S. Lowry.

In the late 1970s Braaq's sister, Ann, died at the young age of 20. In memory of her, many of his subsequent paintings are signed with both his signature and "Ann". Also several of his pictures show graffiti "Agnes", this is in tribute to his mother. He is also known for painting himself into many of his works as a young boy wearing a black and white striped jumper. Apparently the jumper being the only "new" item of clothing he ever remembered receiving as a young boy.