Buck Collection

Unusual backstory leads to new exhibition at UCI’s Langson IMCA

Funding to provide support for construction, operation of state-of-the-art facility

UCI unveils exhibits, events to introduce California art showcase

Running an art museum was not something James Irvine Swinden ever imagined. When his mother, Joan Irvine Smith, began feverishly collecting California impressionist artwork in the early 1990s, Swinden was happily operating a 12-acre botanical garden on the island of Kauai. So when she asked him to help set up a museum to showcase the […]

Inside an unmarked Los Angeles warehouse, a woman wearing disposable purple gloves uses a $300 specialized flashlight to pore over every inch of a crayon portrait. Framed by towering racks of artwork, she’s inspecting and inventorying a long-hidden stash of 3,200 paintings and statues bequeathed toUCI by Orange County developer Gerald Buck. The collection, a […]

Record-breaking donations highlight big year at UCI

Rarely seen Buck Collection, ‘greatest ever assembled,’ key to major UCI art center

An exquisite but long hidden collection of California art was given to UCI by the trust of Gerald Buck, a Newport Beach developer and art aficionado who passed away in 2013. Consisting of over 3,200 original works of art, the Buck Collection provides a uniquely comprehensive vision of art styles across many media. The Collection […]