Robert Brown graduated from UCLA with a Ph.D. in Indian art history in 1981. Immediately after graduation he worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, being promoted to Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art in 1984. In 1986 he began teaching at UCLA where he is presently Professor of Indian and Southeast Asian Art History. In 2001 he was reappointed as Curator in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Art at LACMA, a position he holds alongside his UCLA professorship. 

His research extends over broad geographical areas and chronological periods. Four recent publications include three edited books, Art from Thailand (Marg 1999), Roots of Tantra (SUNY 2002), the Encyclopedia of India, 4 vols. (senior editor Stanley Wolpert; Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2005), and with Natasha Eilenberg a translated book study on the Art of Ancient Cambodia (Reyum 2008). At UCLA he has trained over twenty PhD graduate students who now hold positions in major museums and universities throughout the US.