What is California Art?

Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) was established by the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 2017 following the acquisition of two important gifts of modern and contemporary California Art: The Buck Collection and The Irvine Museum Collection. The originating collections celebrate artists’ wide-ranging perspectives and creative responses to the California experience and showcase the vision and connoisseurship of the late Gerald Buck and the late Joan Irvine Smith.

Langson IMCA is building on this solid foundation—through acquisitions, gifts, and partnerships—in ways that expand the understanding of and appreciation for California Art; the forces that helped shape various genres, movements, and individual artists; and its enduring impact. Langson IMCA’s holdings now include over 4,700 works that represent a wide array of styles, genres, and mediums spanning 19th and early 20th century to Post-War and contemporary art.