Colleen Browning's artistic talent was apparent at a very early age, and was encouraged by her parents, among other ways by allowing her education to focus on development of that talent. She had had considerable training when, in 1946, she entered the Slade School of Art in London for two years of study. The first exhibition of her work occurred in London in 1949. She came to the United States upon marrying Geoffrey Wagner, an English writer, then teaching at the University of Rochester, New York.
The first of her many awards was received in 1950, from the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester. In Academy annual exhibitions she has received the Isidor medal, 1953; a Hallgarten prize, 1957; and Obrig prize, 1970. Browning was a member of the faculty of City College, City University of New York in the 1960s and 1970s; she taught in the Academy school from 1978 to 1982. She served on the Academy Council from 1969 to 1972.
