Obituary Mr Brian Muir

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 28

Obituary Mr Brian Muir

Mr Brian Muir, who was director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery from 1969 to 1978, has died in Auckland after a long illness. Mr Muir was born in 1943 at Waiuku, where he received his primary and secondary education. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in history and fine arts from Auckland University and spent a year at Auckland Teachers College before becoming a teacher at Pukekohe, near Auckland. A year later he left teaching to join the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation’s news service team based in Auckland. From an early age Mr Muir collected Maori artefacts and colonial objects. In 1966 he opened the Waiuku Museum, housed in a disused fire station turned over to him for the purpose by the Mayor. He did the Art Galleries and Museums Association of New Zealand in-service course, and in 1967 was

appointed director of the Manawatu Art Gallery. In 1969 he moved to Christchurch to become director of the McDougall Gallery, on Mr W. Baverstock’s retirement. He instituted changes at the gallery which he saw principally as an educational institution, establishing rooms in which paintings were associated together with period furnishings and decorative objects to give context to the works of art. With a small staff, he initiated important touring exhibitions surveying New Zealand art history. His influence in the gallery’s programmes began a steady improvement in the gallery’s attendances. In 1978 he resigned to take up the position of curator of decorative arts at the Auckland Institute and Museum. He continued in this post until a serious accident in 1987 forced an early retirement. Mr Muir is survived by his wife and two sons.