Buck, Robert T.,

Robert Treat Buck, Jr. joined the Albright-Knox Art Gallery as assistant director in 1970. On July 1, 1973, he succeeded retiring director Gordon M. Smith. Buck's directorship of the Albright-Knox lasted exactly 10 years. During this time, he strengthened the Gallery's education programs and oversaw the publication of a major collection catalogue, Painting and Sculpture, from Antiquity to 1942 (1979). His term also included a considerable expansion in Buffalo Fine Arts Academy (B.F.A.A.) membership, and funding of programs by state and federal agencies, particularly, New York State Council on the Arts (N.Y.S.C.A.) and the National Endowment for the Arts (N.E.A.). Corporate membership and contributions also grew, providing an alternate source of revenue. These gains were precipitated by the 1976 Erie County Cultural Funding Crisis, which threatened absolute curtailment of the County's annual appropriation. Prior to this serious problem, the City of Buffalo's annual appropriation was challenged before the Common Council by the anti-Gallery, local artists lobby centered around local artist Larry Griffis. This dispute occurred in 1974 with artists seeking increased representation in the Academy's art collection, and in exhibitions at the Gallery. Through all this, Buck was steadfastly dedicated to an international rather than a regional vision of the museum's (and Buffalo's) future. From 1973 to 1983, the Gallery organized an average of three major, single-artist exhibitions each year. Buck personally curated shows of artworks by Sam Francis, Richard Diebenkorn, Cleve Gray, Sonia Delaunay, and Fernand Leger. In 1978, the Diebenkorn exhibition was chosen to represent the United States at the 28th Venice Biennale. Buck himself was appointed a commissioner to the Biennale. Another major exhibition he organized was the 1979 Art For the Vice-President's House from Northeast Museums. During processing, considerable correspondence was found between Buck and Joan Adams Mondale.

In 1978, he was elected a trustee of the Association of Art Museum Directors (A.A.M.D.), an organization he served as secretary and as vice-president until 1982. Correspondence generated in this capacity documents the national funding crisis caused by reduced Government funding of the N.E.A. and the National Endowment for the Humanities (N.E.H.). Buck served on a variety of other local, state, and national committees and arts commissions which are also documented here. From the standpoint of local art history, the most interesting of these is the Mayor's Committee on Sculpture, which Buck served on in an advisory capacity. Robert Buck resigned effective July 1, 1983 in order to assume the directorship of the Brooklyn Museum.

From the description of Robert T. Buck, Jr. Records, 1973-1983. (Albright-Knox Art Gallery). WorldCat record id: 660833738