David Devine began collecting art in 1972. He had inherited a Grandma Moses painting from his grandmother, which he sold to raise funds to buy more artworks. For Devine, collecting "became an obsession, I loved it so much. It was like a fix. Some people are devoted golfers or hunters. I collected art." He started collecting contemporary paintings, but he especially had a passion for collecting photographs and prints.
Born in Florida and raised in Los Angeles, Devine moved to the Bay Area in the 1960s and started a real estate investment firm. He first came to the de Saisset Museum for an exhibition of photographs by Graham Nash in 1978, and later served on the Museum's Advisory Board. In the 1980s, as his collection began to outgrow his space, he began gifting works to Bay Area museums such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the de Saisset Museum.
The de Saisset is the recipient of 210 works from David Devine, strengthening the Museum's photography collection as well as our collection of prints and paintings by Bay Area artists. Artists from the collection include Robert Bechtle, Ruth Bernhard, Harold Edgerton, Sam Francis, Arnold Genthe, Henry Gilpin, Tom Holland, Michael Kenna, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Frank Lobdell, Richard Misrach, Louise Nevelson, Fritz Scholder, Charles Strong, and Weegee. We are very grateful for the spirit of generosity demonstrated by Devine in sharing these works with the Museum and our audiences.