‘I always bought art that I liked’
Collector and advocate Warwick Brown talks to Warren Feeney about the rise of contemporary New Zealand art.
How do you separate great contemporary works of New Zealand art from the less distinguished? During the past 50 years, collector, writer, gallery dealer, arts columnist, lecturer and consultant, Warwick Brown has advised hundreds of New Zealanders on how to make such decisions.
Recently visiting Christchurch, Brown is once more championing the country’s artists, this time through his own years of collecting – the Warwick & Kitty Brown Collection.
More than 300 artworks that he and his wife, Kitty, acquired from 1969 to 2016, are to be auctioned in Auckland on May 17 and 18. He may be a zealous missionary for the arts, but there is a healthy common sense about Brown’s decisions in choosing works. ’’It never entered my head to purchase works of importance. I brought what I liked.’’
The paintings and prints that he and Kitty Brown have liked now form one of the best private collections of contemporary art in New Zealand, with works by artists such as Pat Hanly, Colin McCahon, Ralph Hotere, Ian Scott, Don Binney and Don Driver. In 2017, the collection looks like an historical document, tracking the development of modernism in New Zealand from the late 1960s to its more recent incarnations and the work of artists like James Robinson.
Modernism came of age in Auckland between 1965 and 1980, a period Brown reflects as being ‘‘a quite remarkable, and never to be repeated, moment in contemporary art’s development’’.
‘‘Things warmed up when Barry Lett opened his gallery in 1965. That was the crest of the wave. Artists like Michael Illingworth, Brent Wong, Binney and Hanly gained a rapid following.
‘‘Everyone was waiting for a decent, dealer-run contemporary gallery. It was a large gallery but its openings were always packed with people standing shoulder-toshoulder, talking about art. You just had to go to those openings. At 5pm on opening nights, there would be a queue down Victoria Street waiting to get in and then there would be a charge up the stairs. The wife would run around the room and the husband would go to the desk and say ‘I want to buy one of these works’, and then his wife would let him know the number of the one they were purchasing.
‘‘There really was a ripple effect and a wave of enthusiasm for contemporary New Zealand art. If one person had the courage to buy a work and take it home, friends would see it and think; ‘maybe we should have a painting?’’’
How did Brown discover his vocation as an advocate for contemporary art? ’’I started learning about art from the age of 6 from the library and my father also had The Studio magazine at home. As a teenager, I discovered Henry Moore and I saw his touring exhibition when it came to New Zealand in 1956. I spent hours in that show. I can see myself as a young man in awe in of those Henry Moore’s. All it did for me was to reinforce my passion.
‘‘Then, in 1959, I went to England with my father and I visited the Tate and dealer galleries in London and Italy. I was 19 and I got to see lots of classic modernist works. Seeing the work was an important experience. I realised that Mondrian’s paintings were not flat as they looked in reproductions.’’
Among all the artists with work in the collection, Don Driver is among his favourites. ’’I like the concept of turning junk into art. I liked Driver’s ability to take sacks and bits of rope and odd tools and make them into something magical. Any fool can do an assemblage with found objects, but is it any good? He seemed to have a magic touch.’’
From the 1970s, Brown began to professionally share his enthusiasm for collecting, establishing art co-ops; groups of like-minded individuals keen to develop their own collections. In 1976, Brown and auction-house dealer Peter Webb formed the first art co-op, The Prospect Collection. ’’It was great fun because it was like being a guru and making the power of art work on these other people. We met in each other’s homes, a social occasion to look at new works acquired. I lent all those groups about 20 or 30 works to start with while we built up the co-op. My No.1 rule was that you must have a buying policy.
‘‘The art co-op was a concept that was so successful it started a bomb. It had an immense affect. A cousin or friend would see a work that someone had purchased and then they would want one as well. It laid the foundations for the contemporary art scene that we have today.’’
Brown has also contributed to the knowledge of our artists through publications that he wrote between 1995 and 2011. Among these are three surveys that collectively document the work of 300 artists: 100 New Zealand Painters; Another 100 New Zealand Artists and Seen This Century.
‘‘I confess that I have always wanted to write for the common person. I know a lot about art and I know all the artists. I laid out my proposal to Random House for 100 New Zealand Artists and they said, ‘go away and write it’. The first printing sold 3500 copies in two months and the reprint another 3500.
‘‘For Seen this Century ,Iwas thinking that here we were 10 years into the new century and there were all these new young artists. I used the internet and researched art competitions and awards, writing down all the artists’ names that I had only vaguely heard of. Three hundred names were then edited to 100.
‘‘It was subtitled A Collector’s Guide, and that was to help people like me find out about these artists.
‘‘I was a lawyer for 25 years and I did have some regrets about not going to art school. That was why I became a contemporary art collector. I rationalise my decision by getting in at the other end. Looking back on it after 50 years, I will never know if I would have become a terrific artist but I do feel happy that my squaring of the circle has brought me to the position I am in now.’’ ❚ Viewing of the Warwick & Kitty Brown Collection is available at Auckland’s Mossgreen-Webb, 23-25 Falcon St, Parnell, Auckland from May 10-17. The auction will take place at the same venue on May 17 and 18.