Art Museum rewards largesse of grads

By Martha Guzman, Forty-Niner Online
Sept. 13, 1995

The University Art Museum held a special reception in honor of Southern California art collectors Tom and Barbara Peckenpaugh last Thursday after the couple gave a gift of 267 photographs from their personal collection to the Art Museum.

Part of the gift is now on display at the Art Museum titled "Selective Evidence: Photographs from the Peckenpaugh Gift." Other photographs from the gift will be displayed later throughout the year.

The Peckenpaughs, both graduates of Cal State Long Beach, began collecting art in 1976. The couple soon began to take an interest in photography and by the 1980s they had already begun to accumulate a large number of contemporary photographic images.

Once they could no longer accommodate all of their photos on their walls at home, the Peckenpaughs decided to give a portion of their collection to the Art Museum to share with both CSULB students and the surrounding community.

"I think it's wonderful support from two alumni of the university," said CSULB President Robert Maxson. "It's because of friends like this that this is one of the best university art museums in the country."

The gift includes several portfolios: "New Mexico Landscapes," "Laurie Brown, Earth Edges," "Olympic Portfolio," that consists of 10 Pulitzer Prize winning photographs of the 1984 Olympics and "Series Robert Janz," photo etchings published by the L.A. Louver Gallery.

Well-known artists such as Marion Post Wolcott, Ken Light, Sabastiao Salgado and Shirley Burden are also included in the collection.

In addition to their gift to the Art Museum, the Peckenpaughs also support several art organizations in Southern California. Both of them have been involved with the South Coast Repertory Theater. Robert Peckenpaugh has served on the board for ten years.

The Peckenpaughs have also donated some of their art pieces to the Newport Harbor Art Museum, in which Robert Peckenpaugh has served on as a Board of Trustees museum.

Constance Glenn, director of the Art Museum, said that the Peckenpaugh collection is one of the largest gifts ever received, making it one of the most unique collection of photographs in the region.