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Letters to Artvoice

DEFENDING THE ALBRIGHT-KNOX: A LETTER FROM THE TRUSTEES

We write in response to two letters published January 11 about the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s sale of antiquities. Those letters contain factual errors and serious misrepresentations of the Gallery in general and this sale in particular.

It is one thing for someone to express an opinion—even a strong opinion—but opinions are best based on facts. The disregard for the facts in both letters does the museum and our community a serious disservice.

Among the necessary corrections and clarifications are:

1. None of the objects being sold is “priceless.” Sotheby’s estimates the most valuable work to be worth between $5-7 million. The least valuable may be worth only $750.

2. The Gallery was founded in 1862, not 1875. From that date onward, the Gallery’s leaders have concentrated on collecting the art of their own time, rather than attempting to acquire Old Master paintings and other historic works. Over the years, however, bequests, gifts and occasional purchases have brought the Gallery some antiquities and historic works, which represent about three percent of the collection. Although many of these works are wonderful, all of them fall outside the scope of the Gallery’s mission.

3. All works from the 19th and 20th centuries remain in the collection, even though space limitations require that many of them be kept in storage. The current permanent collection installation, Remix the Collection, features many works from the 19th and 20th centuries.

4. To give a financial context to the discussion, the Gallery’s annual operating budget is between $6.5 and $7.5 million, with a total endowment of approximately $58 million. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an annual operating budget of more than $270 million and an endowment of more than $2.1 billion. The Museum of Modern Art has an annual operating budget of more than $150 million and an endowment of approximately $560 million.

5. In general, the value of our funds dedicated for art acquisitions comprises less than 40 percent of the $58 million endowment, not operating fund, and annual spending from that endowment is targeted at 5 percent, not 8.5 percent. The sale is expected to increase the endowment dedicated to art acquisition to at least $34 million.

6. Actually we own 33 Clyfford Still paintings, 31 works gifted by Mr. Still and two gifted by Seymour H. Knox, Jr. We would not sell any of these important works or our outstanding works by Willem de Kooning. They are essential to the core mission reaffirmed in our 2001 Strategic Plan to be “one of the world’s most dynamic modern and contemporary art institutions.”

7. Contrary to what some people may believe, the Gallery’s director, Louis Grachos, has not driven the deaccession plan. The Board of Directors directed the professional staff to make recommendations for an implementation plan and then unanimously approved that plan.

8. There was never any idea of “getting rid” of the pre-1950 collection through a long-term loan. Because we knew that the Extreme Abstraction exhibition would be installed in the entire museum for several months of 2005, Mr. Grachos explored the possibility of a short-term arrangement with the UB Anderson Gallery, hoping that some of the Gallery’s popular works could be exhibited and available to the community during the same time. Because of prohibitive security and insurance costs, and the fact that the UB Anderson Gallery is closed during the summer, we were not able to make that happen.

9. The Gallery for Small Sculpture, originally the Gallery’s Library, was converted into an exhibition space in 1998-99 for three-dimensional works not to exceed 15 inches in height. It was not built specifically for the works now being deaccessioned.

10. Our trustees and other donors are very generous to the museum but it is unreasonable to expect them to fund the kinds of acquisitions today that Mr. Knox was able to do in the 1950s because current prices are so high.

There has been a tremendous amount of misinformation about the Albright-Knox’s deaccession project circulating throughout our community. Thank you for the opportunity to correct the record on a project that we believe is crucial to the future of the Albright-Knox as a world-class museum of modern and contemporary art.

As members of the Buffalo and Western New York community, we, too, take no joy in seeing any artwork leave our collection. But we also know that letting some antiquities go will enable the Albright-Knox Art Gallery to be a stronger and more dynamic institution for generations to come.

Charles W. Banta, Charles E. Balbach, Steven G. Biltekoff, Thomas R. Hyde, Northrup R. Knox, Gerald S. Lippes

Deaccession Committee

Board of Directors, The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy