Ruth D. Browne New Zealand, 1905-2002
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Ruth D. Browne
Auction Houses
About Ruth D. Browne
Ruth Browne is the matriarch of a rich artistic lineage. Her son is Wellington-based artist Michael Browne, and her grandson is Auckland artist Matthew. Ruth Browne’s love of painting and drawing became well established in her childhood and she attended Canterbury College of Art, winning two major prizes along with the CCSA Sketch Club’s self-portrait competition. She travelled to England to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, completing her certificate in one year rather than the usual three. From there Ruth made extended painting trips through the English countryside and to Italy. After her return to New Zealand in 1933 she continued to explore landscape painting but, by the early 1960’s, had begun to develop a level of abstraction that culminated in her final, poured abstract works and was able to support herself financially through painting sales and to pursue her career. Her early abstractions were playful then quickly moved to more atmospheric work employing a limited palette.
We have records of art auction sales by Ruth Browne from 1995 and in total 10 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 6 (60%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $2,934 for Maori's sold by International Art Centre in February 2017. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by Ruth Browne are held by the Museum Of New Zealand.
Ruth D. Browne is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 32
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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