Ron Brownson

• Name — Ron Brownson • Other Names — Ronald Brownson • Born — 1952 • Birthplace — Syria • Died — 27 February 2023 • Place of death — Auckland, New Zealand • Education — University of Auckland • Known for — New Zealand and Pacific Arts

In 1977 Brownson received a master's degree from the University of Auckland. In 2006, the research papers from his master's thesis on New Zealand realist painter Rita Angus became part of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki's archives.

Brownson began his career at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 1978 as a research librarian at the EH McCormick Library. In 1995, Brownson became Curator of Photography and Pacific Art, in 2001 this role developed into Curator of New Zealand Art and Senior Curator in 2002. He held the position of Senior Curator New Zealand and Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki until his death in March 2023. Over his career he contributed to a number of pivotal exhibitions at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. In 1990, Brownson gave the first of many talks to come about New Zealand art and artists. He discussed the topic of Rita Angus for the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki exhibition, Two Centuries of New Zealand Landscape Art. Dedicating over 40 years of service to the arts, Brownson held many lectures and artist talks over his career, with artists such as Fiona Clark, John Miller, Rueben Paterson. Brownson was known for advocating and supporting artists, most notably, Niuean artist John Pule and Samoan artist Fatu Feu'u. In 2008, Brownson won the Illustrated non-fiction award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning, a book written in collaboration with Jennifer Hay, Chris Knox, and Laurence Aberhart. Brownson was a former board member and trustee of Tautai Pacific Arts Trust from 2010 until 2023.

Upon Brownson's death on 27 February 2023, there was an outpour of appreciation from his colleagues at Auckland Art Gallery as well as other galleries and artists he worked with over his career. Brownson's service to art and culture in New Zealand has proved him a significant figure in the G.L.A.M. sector both in New Zealand and internationally. Long time colleague and friend Ben Bergman of Bergman Gallery said, "A legend has passed." and "Ron leaves an unprecedented legacy of service to New Zealand & Pacific Art." John Gow from Gow Langsford Gallery said "New Zealand has not only lost a great character of the art world but an enormous fountain of knowledge." In 2025, his vast collection of 700 objects, split into three catalogues, was auctioned off in Cordy's auction house in Auckland. Brownson was a collector of New Zealand photographs, ceramics, rare textiles from Africa and Middle East, English furnitures, and art. According to interview with Hamish Coney on Radio New Zealand, many artists such as Marti Friedlander had given him artworks that Brownson had cherished. There are also about 5000 books in Brownson's collection.

• Exhibition — Year — Location — Curator(s) • Open the Shutter: Auckland Photographers Now at Auckland Museum — 1994 — The Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Paenga Hira — Ron Brownson (Guest curator) • Lillian. Budd: The Voice of Silence — 1997 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Haze: Maureen Lander, Kaylyn Twotrees, Toi Mahi — 1998 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Ross T. Smith: Hokianga — 1998 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Terry Urbahn: The Karaokes — 1998-99 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • John Ioane: Fale Sa — 1999 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Opo: The Hokianga Dolphin — 2000 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • New Visions: Beginning the Contemporary in New Zealand Art — 2001-02 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Gretchen Albrecht: Illuminations — 2002 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Sugimoto Portraits- Works Commissioned by Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin — 2002 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Fatu Feu'u 'O le tautai Samoa — 2002-03 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith — 2003 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • New Zealand Modern: Paintings and Sculpture from the Collection — 2003-04 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • India: Hindu Art from the 12th to the 18th Century — 2003 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Bauhaus Photography — 2003 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Self and Other: The Expressionist Spirit in New Zealand Art — 2003-04 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • John Kinder's New Zealand — 2004 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Golden - Celebrating 50 Years of the Friends of the Gallery — 2004 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, assisted by Jane Davidson • Through the Eyes of Shirin Neshat — 2004 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Doris Lusk: Arcade Awnings — 2004 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Local Atlas: Contemporary New Zealand and Australian art — 2004-05 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Te Moananui a Kiwa — 2005-06 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Ngahiraka Mason, Jane Davidson • William Hodges 1744-1797: The Art of Exploration — 2005 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Tribute: Visual artists celebrated by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand — 2006 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Summer Daze — 2006-07 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ngahiraka Mason, Ron Brownson • Likeness & Character: Portraits From the Auckland Art Gallery Collection — 2007-08 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • The Walters Prize — 2008 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • In Shifting Light — 2008-09 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Local Revolutionaries: Art & Change 1965–1986 — 2010-11 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Mary Kisler • The Walters Prize — 2010 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi: Aotea (White Cloud) — 2012-13 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Home AKL: Artists of Pacific Heritage in Auckland — 2012 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Julia Waite • Partner Dance: Gifts from the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery — 2012-13 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Natasha Conland and Ngahiraka Mason • Kinder's Presence — 2013-14 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Robert Ellis: Turangawaewae | A Place to Stand — 2014-15 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Toi Aotearoa — 2011-14 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Natasha Conland, Ngahiraka Mason, Jane Davidson-Ladd • ANZAC: Photographs by Laurence Aberhart — 2015 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Whano Kē: Change and Constancy in Māori Art Today — 2015-16 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Te Wā Tōiri: Fluid Horizons — 2015-16 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Seen from Elsewhere — 2015-16 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Extra Ordinary Everyday — 2015-16 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Yuki Kihara and John Pule — 2015-16 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Len Casbolt's Photography: From Soft Focus to Sharp Vision — 2016 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • To All New Arrivals — 2016-18 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand – Te Hokinga Mai — 2018-19 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Nigel Borell • Seeing Moana Oceania — 2018-20 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Nigel Borell • Ralph Hotere: Godwit/Kuaka — 2018-20 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Richard Lewer: Collective Memory — 2020 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Civilization, Photography, Now — 2020 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Touring • Max Oettli: Visible Evidence, Photographs 1965–1975 — 2021-22 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson • Malcolm Ross, Fiona Clark, Grant Lingard: Looking at Men — 2021-22 — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — Ron Brownson, Caroline McBride, Tamsyn Bayliss

• Molly Macalister: A Memorial Exhibition (1982) • John Kinder Photographs (1985) • International Photography 1920–1980 (1985)

• Andy Leleisi'uao: KAMOAN MINE (Bergman Gallery, TSB Wallace Arts Centre, Creative New Zealand, 2019) • Andy Leleisi‘uao (Whitespace, 2009) • John Ioane: Journeyman Artist and the Pacific Paradox (Whangarei Art Museum, 2009) • Le Folauga: The Past Coming Forward – Contemporary Pacific Art from Aotearoa New Zealand (Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, 2009) • Fiona Clark: Living with AIDS, 1988 (Michael Lett, Auckland, 2018