Directors

Throughout its evolution from the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy to the Albright Art Gallery, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and now the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, our museum has been led by dedicated and talented directors whose collective contributions have given rise to one of the world’s most extraordinary art collections. Among the museum’s past leaders are the first female director of a major art museum in the United States and a member of the Monuments Men during World War II.

Charles M. Kurtz

January 1905–March 1909

William M. Hekking

March 1925–September 1931

Gordon B. Washburn

October 1931–February 1942

Edgar C. Schenck

September 1949–July 1955

Gordon M. Smith

September 1955–June 1973

Douglas G. Schultz

December 1983–December 2002

Louis Grachos

January 2003–December 2012