In 2001, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery board of directors, concerned about a lack of space to exhibit its world-renowned art collection, produced a strategic plan that called for “a major architectural project on the museum’s campus.”
A renovation and reimagination that was spurred by the largest private individual donation to a cultural organization in Western New York history will be unveiled on June 12.
That began a process that culminates Monday with the opening of the Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building at the renamed Buffalo AKG Art Museum.
The path to get there, like most projects of this magnitude, had its stops and starts before Gundlach, who grew up in Amherst, offered the first of a series of matching grants in 2016, ultimately footing fully one-third of the $195 million cost. New York State gave $46.6 million, with the two contributors providing nearly 57% of those construction costs.
“When Gundlach came in with the matching gift, that was the electric moment when all of a sudden the sparks really flew,” said Charlie Banta, who has been on the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy’s board since 1997 and served as its chairman from 2002 to 2009. “It catalyzed all the work that happened prior to that.”
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum stands for John J. Albright,…
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