• Skip to main content
UCI Jack & Shanaz Langson Institute & Museum of California Art
  • Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Group Visits
  • Exhibitions
    • On View
    • Upcoming
    • Past
  • Collection
  • Programs
    • K – 12 Education
    • Public Programs
  • Support
  • About
    • Langson IMCA
    • Message from the Director
    • Staff
    • FAQs
    • News
    • DEAI
Lita Albuquerque, <em>She Began to Perceive an Edge</em>, 1989, Oil, iridescent powder and slate on plastered silk, 50 x 88 x 3 in. The Buck Collection at UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art
Lita Albuquerque, She Began to Perceive an Edge, 1989, Oil, iridescent powder and slate on plastered silk, 50 x 88 x 3 in. The Buck Collection at UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art

The Buck Collection

  • Overview
  • The Irvine Museum Collection
  • The Buck Collection
  • Featured Works
  • Acquisitions

Gerald E. Buck (1930 – 2013) was a successful developer in Orange County and avid patron of contemporary California Art. The collection comprises over 3,200 works across mediums and styles. While Buck lent work to various museums for special exhibitions, the collection was primarily enjoyed by Buck and his family in his home and private gallery. Most of the works were out of the public eye for decades and the breadth of the collection was known only to a few.

Following Buck’s death in August 2013, Christina Buck, his daughter and trustee, executed a gift agreement with UCI in November 2014, donating his collection and associated archives to the university. UCI took possession of The Buck Collection in 2016, and the legal title transferring the artworks to UCI was completed in 2017. The Buck Collection gift was officially announced in November 2017. Christina Buck considered UCI the perfect match for fulfilling her father’s wish to make the collection widely accessible in an academic setting for enjoyment and study.

The collection comprises works by contemporary art luminaries including Carlos Almaraz, Ruth Asawa, Bruce Conner, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis, Roger Kuntz, Helen Lundeberg, David Park, Helen Pashgian, Agnes Pelton, Wayne Thiebaud, Patssi Valdez, De Wain Valentine, and others. The works represent California schools of abstraction, assemblage, minimalism, and other genres.

A noteworthy aspect of the collection is the presence of many artists who taught or studied at UC Irvine. A sampling from that roster includes Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Ed Bereal, Tony DeLap, Robert Irwin, Gilbert Lujan, John Mason, Alexis Smith, and James Turrell. Their legacies contribute to Langson IMCA’s position as a leading center for investigating UCI’s historic and ongoing influence on artists and art making.

Featuring over 50 paintings and sculptures, First Glimpse: Introducing The Buck Collection at the UCI Institute and Museum for California Art was presented at the University Art Gallery and Contemporary Art Center Gallery at UCI in fall 2018 to popular and critical acclaim. It was the first opportunity for the public to view a selection of works from the formerly privately held collection of Gerald Buck. Beginning in spring 2021, selections from the collection have been incorporated into exhibitions at Langson IMCA’s interim museum at 18881 Von Karman Avenue.

MAILING ADDRESS
UCI Jack and Shanaz Langson
Institute and Museum of California Art
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-1010

INTERIM MUSEUM LOCATION
18881 Von Karman Avenue
Suite 100
Irvine, CA 92612

HOURS
Tuesday – Saturday | 10 am – 4 pm
Sunday & Monday | Closed

949-476-0003
imca@uci.edu

  • Contact Us
  • Support
  • Latest issue of the newsletter
  • Employment
  • News

STAY CONNECTED

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Follow IMCA on Instagram

© 2023 UC Regents | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
Langson IMCA’s ongoing collections research continues to provide new information, which will result in updates, revisions, and enhancements to object records. At the time of publication image credits are reviewed by Langson IMCA’s curatorial staff and reflect the most current information the museum has in its database but may be incomplete.