Jean Brown (December 20, 1911 – May 1, 1994) was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and is best known for her work as a

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

and

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

.Biographical/Historical note
''Jean Brown Papers, 1916-1995 (bulk 1958-1985)''
Los Angeles, Calif.: Research Library, Getty Research Institute. Completed May 1997, revised Sep 2008. Her papers were acquired by the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

in Los Angeles, California, in 1985.Smith, Roberta (May 4, 1994)
Jean Brown, 13, Avid Collector Of Dada, Surrealism and Fluxus

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

. Accessed January 2014.

Life

Brown worked as a librarian. She lived in Massachusetts. Her home in

Tyringham Tyringham (/ˈtiːrɪŋəm/) is a village in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about a mile and a half north of Newport Pagnell. The village name is an Old English language word, an ...

, MA, became a meeting place for

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

artists. The Shaker Seed, as it was called, was an 1845 Shaker house. Brown's father was a rare-book dealer in Brooklyn. Her husband, Leonard Brown, worked as an insurance agent.

Collection

Brown collected art with her husband Leonard Brown (1909–1970). They began collecting

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

, but turned to Dada and Surrealism when AbEx became too expensive. Brown collected 6,000 artworks by Fluxus, beginning in the 1970s. Brown's collecting developed in parallel to her friendships with artists. Duchamp visited the Browns at their home. She cultivated a lifelong friendship with

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; ; November 8, 1931 Kaunas – May 9, 1978 Boston, Massachusetts) was a Lithuanian American artist, art historian, and art organizer who was the founding member and central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of ...

, from whom she purchased Fluxus artworks. Brown commissioned Maciunas to design a room in her house to house her Fluxus collection. In addition to Fluxus, Brown collected Surrealism, Dada, and post-war art. Brown's collection was the first collection of

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

by the Getty. It was acquired for its strengths in Dada and Surrealism; the Fluxus materials and artists' books were an unexpected acquisition.

References

External links

Finding Aid for the Jean Brown Papers, 1916-1995 (bulk 1958-1985) at the Getty Research Institute. It includes a biographical/ historical section. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jean 1911 births 1994 deaths American art collectors Fluxus