Melva Jane Bucksbaum (née Venezky; April 5, 1933 – August 16, 2015) was an American art collector, curator, and patron of the arts.

Early life

Bucksbaum was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on April 5, 1933, to William Venezky and Millie Ruth Venezky (née Bronstein), two Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States. Bucksbaum attended the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

Philanthropy and art collection

Bucksbaum served as the president of the

Des Moines Art Center The Des Moines Art Center is an art museum with an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, modern art and mixed media. It was established in 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. History The Art Center traces its roots to 1916, when the Des Moines A ...

board. In 1996, Bucksbaum and her family endowed the Martin Bucksbaum Professorship in Urban Planning and Design at the Graduate School of Design at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in memory of her late husband. Additionally, she established the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series in Des Moines, Iowa at

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

. Bucksbaum began serving on the Whitney Museum of American Art's board of trustees in 1996 and eventually became its vice chairwoman. In 2000 she and her family inaugurated the Melva Bucksbaum Prize with an award of $100,000 to an individual contemporary artist and an exhibition of the artist's work at the Whitney. Bucksbaum served on additional boards such as the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topi ...

in Washington, the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the American Friends of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Aspen Institute, the Drawing Center in New York, the Jewish Museum in New York, and the International Committee of the Tate Gallery in London. Bucksbaum collected over four hundred contemporary, impressionist, modernist and post-impressionist works, including pieces by Vanessa Beecroft, Gregory Crewdson,

Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work explores in snapshot-style the emotions of the individual, in intimate relationships, and the Bohemian style, bohemian LGBT subcultural communities, especially dealing w ...

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( ; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female Nude (art), n ...

David Salle David Salle (born September 28, 1952; last name pronounced "Sally") is an American Postmodern painter, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer. Salle was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and lives and works in East Hampton, New York. He earned a B ...

, Richard Serra, Terry Winters,

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, Su-en Wong, and works by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

. In 2004–2005 Francesco Clemente painted a portrait of the couple.

Personal life and death

Bucksbaum married

Martin Bucksbaum Martin Bucksbaum (July 31, 1920 – July 7, 1995) was an American business executive. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer of GGP Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. Early life ...

in 1967. They had two sons, Gene and Glenn, and a daughter, Mary. He predeceased her in 1995, and she married Robert I. Goldman in 199

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/28/classified/paid-notice-deaths-goldman-robert-i.html] In 2001 she married a third time to fellow Whitney trustee, Raymond J. Learsy. Bucksbaum died at her home in

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population ...

, from

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

on August 16, 2015, at the age of 82. She is survived by her third husband as well as her sons, Gene and Glenn Bucksbaum; her daughter, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan; her stepchildren, Bill and Peter Lese and Olexa Mandelbaum; seven grandchildren; and six step-grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucksbaum, Melva 1933 births 2015 deaths American people of Russian-Jewish descent People from Washington, D.C. People from Aspen, Colorado American art curators American women curators American art collectors American women art collectors American art patrons Deaths from cancer in Colorado Deaths from bladder cancer in the United States Bucksbaum family 20th-century American philanthropists