Ron Brownson

Ron Brownson (1952–2023), also Ronald Brownson, was a prominent New Zealand curator who contributed significantly to Māori and Pacific art and culture in New Zealand. Brownson was the Senior Curator New Zealand and Pacific Art at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Brownson also held status as a Queer elder and member of New Zealand's Gay Liberation Movement.

Education 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 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.

Publications

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

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.

Exhibitions curated