Vera Stella Brown (1911-2005) was a remarkable artist and teacher whose work spanned two continents. Born in Plymouth in January 1911, Stella was a gifted student and was awarded a scholarship to attend Plymouth Art School, where she completed the three year course. This was followed by a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, where she recieved an ARCA Diploma after three years.

In 1934, Stella left for India, with the view to marry an Indian man, Nirmal Sen Gupta she had met in the UK. During the War she worked producing propoganda material - posters and cartoons, some of which were dropped over Burma showing the locals ways of sabotaging Japanese war efforts. Her work was met with acclaim as she was awarded the Gold medal for Best Oil Painting at the Calcutta Academy of Fine Arts in 1948. That same year she had a one-woman exhibition in Calcutta and was awarded the prize for the best figure composition in the all India fine Arts and Crafts Society Exhibition in Delhi.

In 1951 she was invited by All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society to submit three pictures for exhibition for Indian Cultural Mission to Middle East and Far East, with one picture selling in Cairo, another in China and the third in Japan.

Keep going strong, Stella returned to England in 1963 and took a post as art teacher at a residential school for underprivileged children. On retiring from teaching in 1971, she had a one-woman exhibition in the Friends International Centre. In 1972 she returned to India for a year to do more painting, returning to England in 1973, where she continued painting with further exhibitions in 1980, 1984 and 1987.

Vera Stella Brown passed away in 2005 at the age of 95, leaving behind a legacy of art that speaks to her remarkable talent, determination, and dedication to her craft.