The Panza Collection: An Experience of Color and Light was on view at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (AKAG) from November 16, 2007 until February 24, 2008. Now, through the generosity of the Panza family and using funds from the gallery’s special endowment for art acquisitions, the gallery has acquired 71 artworks by 15 different artists.
The collection comes from Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, an avid art collector and philanthropist who since the 1980s has sold or donated portions of his collection to designated museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. In Europe, he’s donated or sold works to the Cantonal Museum in Lugano, Switzerland, the Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo, Italy, and the Villa Panza in Varese, Italy.
When the collection was at the AKAG, it was designed and installed by Dr. Panza along with AKAG director Louis Grachos and Chief Curator Douglas Dreishpoon. The works included “Light and Space” works by Dan Flavin, Joseph Kosuth, and Robert Irwin; paintings by Anne Appleby, Max Cole, Alfonso Fratteggiani Bianchi, Ruth Ann Fredenthal, Timothy Litzmann, David Simpson, Phil Sims, and Winston Roeth; an early wall drawing by Sol LeWitt; and sculptures by Stuart Arends, Robert Therrien, and Anne Truitt
This incredible addition to the Permanent Collection spans a forty-year period from the mid-1960s to the present. It will be installed beginning in 2013 according to Panza’s philosophy of collecting an artist in depth. It significantly enhances the gallery’s holdings of Dan Flavin, Robert Irwin, Sol LeWitt, Anne Truitt, and Robert Therrien. The works acquired either compliment the works held prior, and in the case of Therrien, the gallery now holds a significant representation of his work.
The installation view pictured above is Robert Therrien's work. If you’d like to learn more about the AKAG, visit their website.