Australian art dealer, collector, patron: Joseph Brown

Born Josef Braun (1918-2009) in Lodz Poland, he arrived in Aus­tr­alia with his father and siblings in 1933. At 15 he settled in Melbourne and attended Princes Hill Central School. Brown showed an early talent for drawing and was first exhibited at his school.

Bush track Dromana, 1875
by Louis Buvelot

Frederick McCubbin, Autumn Memories, 1899
donated by Brown to the National Gallery of Victoria in 2004

Farm landscape, 1905

by Sid Long, 

Self-portrait, 1906
by George W lambert

Along the way his surname was anglicised to Brown, and after school he began night art classes in painting and sculpture at the Working Men's College (RMIT Uni) in 1934 under artist Nap­ier Waller, and won a schol­ar­ship to the Brunswick Tech­nical College. But the ongoing Depress­ion forced him to abandon studies to help sup­port his family. By the late 1930s Joseph Brown was part of Melbourne’s artistic and intell­ectual circle and friends with Albert Tucker, Noel Counihan and Yosl Bergner etc.

Despite WW2 in 1939, Brown continued to make some art. Then in 1940 he enlisted in the Australian Army and served in the 13th Arm­oured Regiment AIF until 1945. After returning from war service, he became more invol­v­ed in the fashion industry. That year he married and set up J Brown Mantles, a fashion design business in Flinders Lane. He specialised in evening gowns, occas­ion­ally painting and sculpting.

He exhibited with the Victorian Scul­ptors’ Society in the 1960s but ul­tim­at­ely the demands from his growing fashion bus­in­ess made it diffic­ult to concentrate on art. Over the foll­owing decades, Brown established himself in the Australian art world as a collector-dealer. In becoming a leading art dealer and con­sul­tant, he promot­ed a wide range of Australian his­t­orical and contemp­or­ary artists. He recl­aimed the work of for­gotten artists, mentor­ed some new art­is­ts and was a great advocate for portraiture as an art form.

In 1967, life changed. He sold his fashion business, bought a Victorian mansion in classy South Yarra, and established himself as a commerc­ial art dealer in classy Collins St. Brown had found his vocation, and for the next 15 years the Joseph Brown Gallery held many mixed exhibitions of historical and modern art; plus solo exhibitions. His taste was broad, promoting many art­is­ts & genres that had become unfashionable to collectors & ac­ad­em­ics, including col­onial art, marine painting, women artists, scul­­­p­ture and portrait­ure. Meanwhile he’d created a striking private collection of Australian art.

Brown loved John Russell, Austral­ia's lost Impressionist who lived on Belle Ile off Brittany and was a friend of Claude Monet, Vin­c­ent van Gogh and Henri Matisse. In 1968 John Peter Russ­ell 1858-1930: Aust­ral­ian Impressionist opened at Brown’s gal­lery, with works received from the artist's fam­ily. Thus the reputation of one of Australia's most significant art­ists was rebuilt. Brown also supported and promoted living art­ists, and the many portraits painted of him offered a visual record to their affection.

 Portrait of Joseph Brown, 

 by Judy Cassab, 1996 

Brown also was the trusted adviser to many private individuals, corpo­r­at­ions and nearly all state, regional and univers­ity galleries, the Museum & Art Gallery of the Nor­thern Territory in particular. And collections assem­b­led by comm­er­cial organisations. People who collaborated with him to form signific­ant private collections included Marc & Eva Besen, Jos­eph & Gerda Brender, Dudley & Barbara Cain, John & Pauline Gandel, and Kerry Stokes.

From 1966 on, Brown donated 460 works of art to pub­lic collections! In 1973, he received the Order of the British Empire, then in 1990 by an Order of Australia and honorary doct­orates from Monash, Melb­ourne and La Trobe unis.

Over time, Brown built up a fine private art collections and made major contributions to the Australian art story. A major survey of his work, Dr Joseph Brown, a Creative Life: 65 Years a Private Artist, was presented by the Ian Potter Museum of Art at Mel­bourne Uni 1999.

With age, Brown became anxious to find a per­manent home for the rest of his collection of Australian art, and he was clear that the works would have to be disp­layed in ded­icated rooms. Luck­ily he was guaranteed that his works would rem­ain on permanent dis­play as a independent collection by the Nat­ional Gallery Victoria/NGV. So in May 2004 he made the lar­g­est and most generous gifts of 19th and C20th Australian art to any pub­lic Aust­ralian gallery: 154 works worth $35 million. This Joseph Brown Col­lection recorded the diff­erence he made to Australian culture.

Outlines of Australian art: Joseph Brown collection.

by Daniel Thomas, 

Melbourne: Macmillan, 1989

                                         

Just before he died, Brown supported the exhibition of Master­pieces of Australian Impressionism to raise funds for Cabrini Health. Then Australia's most generous and respected art dealer died aged 91, survived by his wife and large family. Including my closest friend, Joseph's niece.

An edition of the Joseph Brown Collection publication was pro­d­uced to coincide with the 2018 centenary of Joseph Brown’s birth. Photo credits: Joseph Brown Collection.