Browne, Michael
Michael Browne (2006)
It is said that, “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. This is certainly true in Michael Browne’s case and this absence has also made and continues to make his painterly vision more robust, profound and exciting. He and his wife Jenny Browne divide there time between Wellington and London, eighteen months and 6 months in each place respectively. It is the contrasting pull factors of these places that have motivated this lifestyle since the early 1980s. This constant relocation has allowed Michael Browne to reflect on and be inspired by the best of both of these worlds, namely the peace, natural ruggedness and early life reminiscences of New Zealand and the lively, humanized environments and artistic traditions of England and Europe.
Michael Browne was born in 1930 and in 1955, after completing his study at the University of Canterbury, School of Fine Art, he was awarded a New Zealand National Art Gallery Travelling Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art in London (1955-1958). He furthered his studies in Paris at the Friedlander (1958) and the S. W. Hayter (1958-1959) Etching Ateliers and in Amsterdam after receiving a Netherlands International Cultural Relations Fellowship (1959-1960).
Rather than returning to New Zealand as many of the other New Zealand artists of the time did, Michael Browne stayed on to lecture in Art, at a number of English institutions until 1980.
The work in this exhibition spans nearly five decades and has an undeniable continuity throughout. That said however, Michael Browne himself believes that development is the key word in regards to his work and has also said that an artist’s vocabulary doesn’t change; it gradually develops into a more profound expression of that earlier work.
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