The Los Angeles Times  marks the passing of  Gerald Buck, real estate developer and builder of a 1000+ item collection of California art:

Art dealers said he began buying pieces in the mid- to late 1980s, and in the beginning had an intense interest in early 20th century works in California. “He was very devoted to history,” said Los Angeles gallery owner Tobey Moss. That led, she said, to his interest in art as it evolved in the state, “after the 1930s when art in California turned the corner from landscapes, seascapes and pink sunsets to much more of a hard edge, abstraction.”

In recent years he bought numerous works by Latino artists who worked in Southern California, including Almaraz and De la Sota. […]

Christina Buck said that plans for the collection were under discussion and would take some time to work out. She said her father “didn’t want to hoard the art,” and that some public showings would probably continue. She said she has been given a list of pieces he was intending to lend to museums for exhibitions over the next two years.

A few days before her father died, she asked him directly what he wanted done with the art. “He said to make sure I shared this collection,” she said, “that it was for people to see and enjoy, and be part of.”

Gerald Buck dies at 73; kept huge art collection mostly under wraps (Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles Times reports the death of Walter de Maria at

Throughout his career, De Maria cultivated a somewhat reclusive personality as far as the media was concerned. He seldom gave interviews and disliked being photographed. He also avoided participating in museum shows when he could, preferring to create his installations outdoors or at unconventional urban locations.

As a result, his work was not widely exhibited in the U.S. and he never became a household name. But critics championed his work, finding his large-scale installations to be conceptual and intellectually complex, while at the same time accessible to the general public.

Walter de Maria, Celebrated Sculptor, Dies at 77 (Los Angeles Times)

The Washington Post’s obituary for Norman Parish tells the frustrating and surprising story of his taking his career into his own hands. Parish had moved to Washington, DC to work as a computer graphics designer at an environmental firm:

“While people generally seemed to like my paintings, no one would show them,” he told The Washington Post in 1996. “Finally, someone told me I should open my own gallery and exhibit my work. I rejected the idea at first. Then I decided it wasn’t so bad and went into business.”

He opened the Parish Gallery in Georgetown in 1991. It became one of the country’s best-known black-owned art galleries, with a focus on works by African Americans and other artists of what is known as the African diaspora.

Mr. Parish gave himself five years to make the gallery a success. Within that time, he was able to give up his day job in computers to devote himself to the gallery, which he operated with his wife, Gwen.

Parish Gallery’s final show is up until July 31st.

Norman Parish, artist and gallery owner, dies at 75 (Washington Post)

Canada’s Globe and Mail reports on the death of noted collector and Art Gallery of Ontario patron, Murray Frum who began collecting shortly after his marriage to television personality Barbara Frum:

The couple bought their first piece of African art on their honeymoon in a museum gift shop, and later amassed an internationally recognized collection, which has been donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario. […] As a collector, Dr. Frum loved the chase, the sleuthing, the knowledge that came from finding a treasure and the pleasure of displaying a piece in harmony with seemingly disparate works. He had a keen eye for business deals, people and objets. […] “He was very engaged with us as a trustee, and was very knowledgeable and strategic as a member of the building committee of the new gallery,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, the director and CEO of the AGO.

“There are very few people in my experience who had a finer sense of taste,” Mr. Teitelbaum said, describing Dr. Frum “as a very generous collector, who had a real interest in and fidelity to the hand-made in art.”