Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 28

'I B-8 Honolulu Star-Bulletin Thursday, Feb. 23, 1967 The art of coll budget ding art on a i i sf if. f.r 1 rip liliBillli 13 "And things are still going back and forth between our house and his." There is presently a very recent cast-metal Chariot crucifix on ihe Brownes' coffee table. The Brownes also credit Chariot with increasing their interest in" primitive art. Chariot trained in Paris, where the now world-wide interest in primitive art was kindled in the early years of this century, and had studied pre-Columbian art during his years as a muralist in Mexico.

The famed modernist Pablo Picasso is all credited with stirring the art world's interest in primitive work by his "discovery" of African art. But surprisingly the Brownes' collection, except for the Japanese items, has been almost totally acquired in Hawaii. The couple have visited Mexico and made one trip to Mainland galleries didn't see much we but have never been to Paris or to Africa. From 1957 to 1959 when they bought their Woodlawn home and closed off some of the doors to provide more "gallery" space they lived By PHIL MAYER So you want to be an art collector. Dr.

Robert Browne says: "When we began, we decided no matter what to put aside $10 a month to buy art and we really didn't have any money in those days. The Brownes began collecting a few months after they were married in 1952. He was a resident in psy- chiatry at Queen's Hospital and she was a nurse on the psychiatric ward. Now their private collection, principally of primitive art, is one of Honolulu 's most important and the hundreds of objects in it just about fill their home at 3625 Anela Road, Manoa. Many items from their collection are on loan to the Honolulu Academy of Arts for the "Oceanic Arts from Collections in Hawaii" which opens to the public Friday and runs through April 9.

Oceanic art encompasses the folk art of Polynesia '(including Hawaii) Melenesia and Micronesia. utthe Brownes' collection also includes Africa and Pre-Columbian (Mexican, pre-16th Century) objects, Japanese mingei (folk) pottery and furniture and a Lanai but grew up in Hilo. Her parents Mr. and Mrs. Tomekichi Morimoto.

Primitive art The couple have three dren: Kevin, 13, who attends Punahou; Cathy, 12, and Sharon, 10, both at Maryknoll. So far Kevin is the family's only second-generation collector. His interest is coins. The couple have special praise for Academy of Arts director James Foster who thought up the Oceanic exhibit from Hawaii collections. "There he is," says Browne wonderingly, "among all those -Manets, Corots and all those sophisticated things, putting togeth- er an exhibit of primitives.

I don't think the usual museum would do it. The visit to the Brownes who always decide jointly what they want and don't want ended with a loaded question: "Would you, since your interest is obviously in primitive art, consider buying a modern abstract painting?" (There is an early Ben Nor-ris in their kitchen. Mrs. Browne: "Yes, probably." Dr. Browne: "No." number of paintings primitive in feeling but highly sophisticated by famed Islander Jean Chariot.

The Brownes acquisition of the paintings is the story of how a collector on a limited budget can get going. The beginning Dr. Browne, now chief of the psychiatric service at St. Francis Hospital, says: "When we we haunted exhibits of work by University of Hawaii students. "We found a lot we could and today's students do work that's just as good and the prices are still just as sensible.

"Then we became interested in Hawaiian artifacts and discovered they could be had if you hunted them. About the same time we 'discovered' Chariot about 20 years after the big-ti mecol-lectors did. "We talked to him but he couldn't sell us any pictures. We 1 't afford him. Then we learned he was really interested in Hawaiian objects." Browne's eyes light up when he says: "Some of our Hawaiian things made him drool.

So we traded him some of our Hawaiian things for some of his paintings. chi and I were served coffee from grey, rough-textured cups made by the contemporary potter Shimaoka who is a leader in the mingei revival. We were also shown closets packed with similar pot tery as Browne continued his primer for collectors. Reading and talking "When you start out, you must read about the things that you want And you must talk to artists. "Often dealers make mis-, takes.

'1 1 show you something that is supposed to be one thing but is something else. "In primitive a he said, "you must know that genuine Oceanic pieces nev-. er have any metal and that the colors are vegetable material plus mud. "Metal only came to the Pacific Islands during World War II and still isn't being used by traditional craftsmen there. But metal iron i has been used for centuries in African primitive pieces." Browne grows stern: "If you don't know things like that, you could get hooked.

The Brownes admit that what first interested them as collectors i 't necessarily what interests them now and they expect their tastes will continue to chai 3. "We used to like things that were more elegant," says Mrs. Mieko (Mickey) Browne, who was born on HOME IS THE COLLECTOR-Dr. Robert Browne checks the day's mail which is kept in a koq wood Maui alii calabash that sits on Japanese wooden mingei chest. "Looking on'' are a pre-Columbian Mexican funeral sculpture of a mother and child, and a Jean Chariot painting.

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