Frequently Asked Questions about the Albright-Knox Auctions

Why is the Gallery selling artworks from its collection?

The Gallery is known nationally and internationally as a first-rate museum of modern and contemporary art. To maintain this status well into the future, it must be able to add to its collection. After long and careful consideration, the trustees resolved to increase the Gallery's endowment by selling a number of artworks, all of which lie outside the Gallery's mission of modern and contemporary art. Proceeds from the sales will be used exclusively for the purchase of artworks.

How did the Gallery decide to sell these works?

The foundation for this initiative was the Gallery's widely distributed 2001 Strategic Plan, which was clear and thorough in establishing the institution's priorities and future direction.

The proposal to sell these artworks emerged from two years of discussions among the Gallery's Art and Deaccession Committees, Board of Directors, and professional staff. The staff consulted with the directors of about thirty museums around the country and also created a national professional advisory committee for input and guidance. The Gallery followed the guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors for deaccessioning.

The decision to deaccession was then made unanimously by the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, which is the governing body of the Gallery. The board is composed of thirty-four members and includes many outstanding civic leaders.

How did the Gallery come to focus on modern and contemporary art?

Right from the start, in 1862, the trustees decided to buy art of their time rather than purchase historic works. By the early twentieth century, with the leadership of A. Conger Goodyear, the Gallery was acquiring signature works by Cézanne, Gauguin, and Picasso. In the 1950s and 1960s, Seymour H. Knox, Jr. purchased for the institution key works that have become the foundation for one of the world's great collections of abstract expressionism, pop art, op art, and minimalism. In 2001, the Gallery adopted a strategic plan affirming its identity as an institution dedicated to modern and contemporary art.

Which works are being sold at auction?

The Gallery is selling 207 objects, 84 of which are a group of Chinese export porcelain, such as plates, platters, tureens, and teacups. These 207 objects represent about 3 % of the Gallery's total collection. Most of them had not been exhibited in recent years. These works range in artistic significance from major to minor and in date from antiquities to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. All of them represent traditions that lie outside the scope of the Albright-Knox's mission of modern and contemporary art. Our great Impressionist paintings are central to that mission and therefore will not be deaccessioned.

Is there any other way to obtain acquisition funds?

The Gallery already receives substantial funding from foundations, corporations, and private contributors including the Board of Directors and members for its exhibitions program and operations. The challenging economy of Buffalo and Western New York limits the resources available for funding acquisitions, as does a relatively small philanthropic community. It should be noted that public funding is also limited. In 2004, half a million dollars of the Gallery's Erie County funding was cut from the Gallery's operational budget, forcing a 25 % staff reduction and the closing of the museum an extra day of the week.

When the Gallery announced these sales, it said it expected to make more than $15 million. That sum was exceeded at the first auction. Why not stop?

The figure of $15 million was an estimate, not a goal. The goal is to increase the fund that the Gallery draws on when it buys works of art. This fund must be built up as much as possible if the Gallery is to remain first-rate. So the success of the first auction is no reason to cut the sales short. On the contrary, it’s a reason to see them through.