Painter of raw and hectic, colourful, Expressionistic figure pictures, often on a large scale, born in London. Brown was the daughter of art critic David Sylvester and the novelist Shena MacKay. She obtained a diploma in art and design from Epsom School of Art, 1985–7; attended drawing and printmaking classes at Morley College, 1987–9; and graduated with first-class honours in fine arts from the Slade School of Fine Art, 1989–93, in 1992 having attended New York Studio School in New York, America, where she settled to work after her Slade studies. Had a solo show at Eagle Gallery, 1995. Among later ones were Deitch Projects, Storefront Gallery, New York, 1997; Serenade, Victoria Miro Gallery, 1999; Gagosian Gallery, Beverley Hills, from 1999; Gagosian Gallery, New York, from 2000; Days of Heaven, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany, from 2001; Directions – Cecily Brown, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, 2002; MACRO, Rome, Italy, 2003; and Galerie Lisa Ruyter, Vienna, Austria, and Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, both 2004.