The Albright–Knox Art Gallery is an art museum located at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York in Delaware Park. The gallery is a major showplace formodern art and contemporary art. It is located directly across the street from Buffalo State College.
History
The parent organization of the Albright–Knox Art Gallery is the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, founded in 1862. It is one of the oldest public arts institutions in the United States. In 1890, Buffalo entrepreneur and philanthropist, John J. Albright, a wealthy Buffalo industrialist, began the construction of the Albright Art Gallery for the Academy. The building was designed by prominent local architect Edward Brodhead Green. It was originally intended to be used as the Fine Arts Pavilion for the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, but delays in its construction caused it to remain uncompleted until 1905.
In 1962, a new addition was made to the gallery through the contributions of Seymour H. Knox, Jr. and his family, and many other donors. At this time the museum was renamed the Albright–Knox Art Gallery. The new building was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architect Gordon Bunshaft, who is noted for the Lever House in New York City.
The Albright–Knox Art Gallery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Collection
The gallery's collection includes several pieces spanning art throughout the centuries. Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic styles can be found in works by artists of the nineteenth century such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. Revolutionary styles from the early twentieth century such as cubism, surrealism, constructivismare represented in works by artists like Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, André Derain, Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, and Alexander Rodchenko. More modern pieces showing styles of abstract expressionism, pop art, and art of the 1970s through the end of the century can also be found represented by artists such asArshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and Andy Warhol. Their contemporary collection includes pieces by artists such as Kiki Smith, Allan Graham, Georg Baselitz, John Connell, and Per Kirkeby. Additionally, the gallery is also very rich in various pieces of post-war American and European art.
