It's Not Perfect, But The News From Albright-Knox Gets Better

Is the tide starting to turn at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery? Thanks to the prospect of a slight increase in 2010 funding from Erie County, which must still be approved by the legislature, there's hope.

Starting today, the Gallery has added hours (that's a photo of works by Fletcher Benton, now on view, at left). It will now be open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, instead of four, Thursday through Sunday. Total hours per week increase just slightly, to 35 from 33 -- because the Gallery now opens at noon, instead of 10 a.m. It still closes at 5 p.m. every day except Friday, when it stays open until 10 p.m. (As I've written before, museums need more evening hours.) Read the press release here.

Other cost-containment and initiatives to increase revenues continue, though -- some worse than others.

Rightly, the Albright-Knox is continuing its tradition of being at the forefront: it recently announced that it will bring to the U.S. for the first time an exhibition showing artists from Canada's avant garde in "an international context" (which means shown with American works of the period): Automatiste Revolution, Montreal, 1941-1960 will open in Buffalo in March. It's now on view at the Varley Art Gallery in Unionville, Ontario -- which is "20 minutes" outside of Toronto. Details here and here. And see Automatiste works here.

The Albright-Knox recently elected a new board chairman, Leslie H. Zemsky, which the Buffalo News welcomed as a good sign, too, citing her "energy, enthusiasm, dynamism and a perspective that will encourage and develop the next chapter in the Albright-Knox story."

Some people will never forgive the Gallery for selling its antiquities -- about which I am not happy either. But right now, I'd just like to see this art outpost get healthy again.  

Photo: Courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery