Buffalo AKG Art Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Museum expansion, 2023
Established	May 31, 1905 (1905-05-31)
Location	1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York
Type	Art museum
Architect	Augustus Saint Gaudens, Edward Brodhead Green
Nearest parking	Underground
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Designated	May 27, 1971
Reference no.	71000538

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum is a cool place to see art in Buffalo, New York. It used to be called the Albright–Knox Art Gallery. The museum is located in Delaware Park. It got bigger starting in 2021 and opened again in June 2023.

This museum is a big spot for showing modern art and contemporary art. It is right across from Buffalo State University.

The museum is named after three important people who gave a lot of money: John J. Albright, Seymour H. Knox II, and Jeffrey Gundlach.

History of the Museum

View from Elmwood Avenue

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum started as the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy in 1862. This makes it one of the oldest public art places in the United States. On January 15, 1900, a rich businessman from Buffalo named John J. Albright gave money to build an art gallery.

A local architect named Edward Brodhead Green designed the building. It was supposed to be ready for the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. But it wasn't finished until 1905. When it opened on May 31, 1905, it was called the Albright Art Gallery.

Clifton Hall is another building on the museum's campus. It was built in 1920. In 1927, it was fixed up and reopened in 1929 as the Albright Art School. It was named Clifton Hall after Charles Clifton, who sponsored the renovations.

In 1962, the museum got a new part thanks to Seymour H. Knox, Jr. and his family. Many other people also helped. At this time, the museum's name changed to the Albright–Knox Art Gallery. The new building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft. The Buffalo AKG Art Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a special historical place.

The museum started thinking about getting bigger in 2001. In 2012, they asked an architecture company called Snøhetta to plan for future growth. In 2014, they decided to expand the museum. In June 2016, they chose Shohei Shigematsu from OMA to be the architect for the project. This was the first art museum in the U.S. designed by this group.

Jeffrey Gundlach, who grew up in Buffalo, gave $42.5 million for the project. Businesses, groups, and individuals also gave money to reach a goal of $125 million. New York State added another $20 million. Because of Gundlach's big gift, a new building was named the Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building.

The Seymour H. Knox Building used to have an open courtyard that visitors couldn't go into. As part of the new design, artists Ólafur Elíasson and Sebastian Behmann created an artwork called Common Sky. This artwork now covers the courtyard. It's like a roof made of glass and mirrors that lets light in. Visitors can look up and see themselves reflected. This space is now called the "Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Town Square." It honors the $11 million donation from Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. and his foundation.

Clifton Hall now holds the museum's old records and offices. It also has the "F. Paul Norton and Frederic P. Norton Family Prints And Drawings Study Center." This is a place where people can study prints and drawings.

The Seymour H. Knox Building now has rooms where visitors can make art themselves. These are called the Creative Commons. This is the first time the Lego Foundation has worked with a museum. The building also has a restaurant called Cornelia. It has a tall glass mosaic by artist Firelei Báez.

The Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building is a round glass building. It opened in August 2023. It added more than 50,000 square feet for art shows and five art classrooms. The first floor has the Nordic Gallery, which shows modern art from Scandinavian countries. The third floor shows the museum's newest art pieces.

The museum is also part of the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network. This network started in 2021.

Amazing Art Shows

In 1910, the museum had a special show called the International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography. It was put together by Alfred Stieglitz. This was the first time an American museum tried to show photography as a serious art form.

In 1978, the museum's show about Richard Diebenkorn was chosen to represent the United States at a big art event in Venice, Italy. In 1988, the museum again won the chance to organize the U.S. exhibition in Venice. This time, they chose artist Jenny Holzer.

The Museum's Collection

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum has a special way of collecting art. Instead of collecting many works by one artist, they try to get important pieces from different artists. The museum has art from the 1800s in styles like Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. You can see works by artists like Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh.

The museum also has art from the early 1900s with new styles like abstraction, cubism, and surrealism. Artists like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, and Frida Kahlo are featured. Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Monkey is one of the famous pieces.

Thanks to Seymour H. Knox and a past director, Gordon M. Smith, the museum was one of the first to collect a lot of Abstract Expressionism. This art style is shown with works by artists like Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler. The museum has the second-largest collection of paintings by Clyfford Still. He gave 31 of his abstract works to the museum in 1964.

The museum also has many examples of post-war American and European art. You can find pop art and minimalism from the 1970s and later. Artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol are here.

When pop artist Marisol passed away in 2016, she left hundreds of her artworks to the museum. This made it the biggest collection of her work anywhere!

Their modern collection includes pieces by artists like Cory Arcangel, Mark Bradford, and Simone Leigh. In 1988, the museum bought a very large painting by Anselm Kiefer called Die Milchstrasse (The Milkyway) to celebrate its 125th birthday.

Before its recent expansion, the museum could only show about 200 artworks. That was only 3% of its huge collection of 6,740 pieces!

Selected Collection Highlights

Paintings

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum has more than 6,500 works in its collection. Here are some other important ones:

Sculptures

The museum also has many sculptures outside. Here are some of the most famous ones:

How Museums Get New Art

Artemis and the Stag, on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sometimes, museums sell old artworks from their collection. This is called "deaccessioning." They do this to buy new art that fits their main goal. For example, in 2007, the Albright–Knox Art Gallery sold an old Roman sculpture called Artemis and the Stag. It sold for a lot of money.

The museum decided to sell it because their main goal is to collect and show modern and contemporary art. The money from the sale helps them buy new pieces that match this focus. This decision followed rules set by the American Alliance of Museums.

Visiting Hours

The museum is open from 10 AM to 8 PM on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, it's open from 10 AM to 5 PM. On the first Friday of every month, you can pay what you wish to get in. This is sponsored by M&T Bank.

Museum Leadership

View of Albright–Knox Art Gallery from Delaware Park

Since 2013, Janne Sirén has been the director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. He is the first director from a Nordic country to lead a major American art museum.

How the Museum is Funded

In 2007, the museum had about $58 million to help buy new art. After selling some artworks in 2007, they could spend almost $5 million on new art each year. In 2013, the museum received a huge gift of $11 million from Peggy Pierce Elfvin. This was the biggest gift at that time. In 2016, Jeffrey Gundlach gave $42.5 million, which was the largest single donation in the museum's history.

Albright Art Gallery in 1913

See also

In Spanish: Museo Albright-Knox para niños

• John J. Albright
• Portrait of Seymour H. Knox
• Seymour H. Knox II