Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki mourns the death of Gordon H Brown, a pivotal figure in the development of New Zealand art history.
Gordon was not only an influential writer but held several roles in institutions across the country. He trained at the Canterbury School of Art, receiving his diploma in 1956, before attending the National Library School in Wellington. He then joined the staff of the Alexander Turnbull Library before moving to Auckland in 1964 to lead the library at the Elam School of Fine Arts. He was later appointed Research Librarian at Auckland Art Gallery.
‘Brown and Keith’ is shorthand for the groundbreaking publication New Zealand Painting: An Introduction 1839–1967 (1969), which he wrote with his Auckland Art Gallery colleague Hamish Keith. The book mapped a persuasive history of New Zealand painting, shaping robust discussions and stimulating research for the next five decades.
In 1970, Gordon was appointed Director of the Waikato Art Gallery but left after a short time to take up the position of Curator of Pictures at the Hocken Library in Dunedin. While there, he curated three nationally touring exhibitions for the QEII Arts Council, each accompanied by a major publication: New Zealand Painting 1900–1920: Traditions and Departures (1972); 1920–1940: Adaptation and Nationalism (1975); and 1940–1960: Conformity and Dissension (1981). These remain invaluable resources for researchers.
Gordon's 1984 monograph Colin McCahon: Artist established his reputation as a leading scholar of the artist, whom he had first met in 1952. The above images show Gordon at the 1988 exhibition Colin McCahon: Gates and Journeys.
Gordon Brown was honoured with an OBE for services to art history in 1980 and his legacy lives on in the annual lecture series named in his memory at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.
Gordon gifted a substantial archive to the E H McCormick Research Library in 2017.
