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

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and is best known for her work as a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

and art collector .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 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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. Accessed January 2014.

Life

Brown worked as a librarian. She lived in Massachusetts. Her home in Tyringham, 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 art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

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, 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, 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 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