SAN DIEGO, CA.- The San Diego Museum of Art has hired Michael Brown, Ph.D., as the Museum’s Associate Curator of European Art. Brown will begin his role in January 2014. Working with the Museum’s Permanent Collection of European art, Brown will oversee the development of Permanent Collection installations and related exhibitions, and contribute to the Museum’s provenance research and art acquisition programs.

Michael Brown brings to the Museum his expertise in the art of Spain and its colonies. While completing his doctoral dissertation at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts with a concentration in 17th and 18th century Colonial Spanish Art, Brown served as Mayer Curatorial Fellow for Spanish Colonial Art in the New World Department at the Denver Art Museum.

Most recently, as a post-doctoral research associate at the Denver Art Museum, he curated Personal Effects: Art and Home in South America. Brown has taught as a visiting lecturer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and University of Denver. He has published widely, contributing essays on Colonial portraiture to catalogues for the Brooklyn Museum, Denver Art Museum, and Fomento Cultural Banamex, Mexico City.

"It is my great honor and privilege to join the Museum’s curatorial team,” said Brown. “This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with the Museum’s world-renowned Permanent Collection, and collaborate on an innovative, exciting exhibition program. These are ambitious times for San Diego and the Museum, and I am thrilled to be a part of it."

"Michael has impressed us with his expertise and enthusiasm,” said Roxana Velásquez, Maruja Baldwin Executive Director of The San Diego Museum of Art. “His knowledge of Spanish and European art will be fundamental to the continued research and the exhibition programs for The San Diego Museum of Art.”