American University Museum
Encyclopedia
The American University Museum is located in the Katzen Arts Center
at the American University
in Washington, DC. It is a three-story, 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) museum and sculpture garden located within the university’s Katzen Arts Center. The region’s largest university facility for exhibiting art, the museum’s permanent collection highlights the holdings of the
Katzen and Watkins collection. Rotating exhibitions emphasize regional, national, and international
contemporary art.
The Katzen Arts Center, named for Washington area benefactors Dr. and Mrs. Cyrus Katzen, brings visual and performing arts programs at AU into one space. Designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, the Katzen includes the museum, the Abramson Family Recital Hall, the Studio Theatre, a dance studio, an electronics studio, rehearsal space, and classrooms.
, Red Grooms
, and Roy Lichtenstein
are prominent in the collection, as well as Washington artists Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, and Bill Willis. The Katzen Collection also contains three large bronze sculptures by Nancy Graves
, one of which is a working clock.
This extraordinary gift was inspired by Myrtle Katzen's love of the art department which she discovered through taking classes at the university. She found great support in painting with a group of alumni artists in the AU studios. Cyrus Katzen, who graduated from Georgetown University's School of Dentistry in 1941, became a supporter of the university through his close friendship with President Benjamin Ladner and Vice President Don Myers. "The art in our collection makes you smile and laugh," Cy Katzen says.
The Watkins Collection which contains more than 4400 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture focuses on twentieth century art, with a special emphasis on Washington area art produced since the 1940s. The Watkins Collection was created in 1945 as a memorial to C. Law Watkins, the former chair of the Department of Art at American University.The collection has grown through generous donations from collectors and judicious management by the studio art faculty. William Calfee, Ben Summerford, Luciano Penay, and Ron Haynie, all former members of the painting faculty, provided direction and care for a collection that has grown from 25 original donations to over 4,500 artworks today.
Open Tuesday - Sunday 11-4pm
The museum is also open one hour prior to performing arts events in the Katzen. Museum admission is free.
Director and Curator
Jack Rasmussen
, PhD
Curator's Blog http://art_at_thekatzen.typepad.com/art_thekatzen/
Metro
The nearest Metrorail stop is the Tenleytown-AU station (Red Line). Walk west on Nebraska Avenue (about 20 minutes) to the campus, or take the M4 or N2 Metrobus to Ward Circle.
Katzen Arts Center
The Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum. Located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, the Center sits atop Embassy Row in Washington, DC, one of the highest...
at the American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
in Washington, DC. It is a three-story, 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) museum and sculpture garden located within the university’s Katzen Arts Center. The region’s largest university facility for exhibiting art, the museum’s permanent collection highlights the holdings of the
Katzen and Watkins collection. Rotating exhibitions emphasize regional, national, and international
contemporary art.
The Katzen Arts Center, named for Washington area benefactors Dr. and Mrs. Cyrus Katzen, brings visual and performing arts programs at AU into one space. Designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, the Katzen includes the museum, the Abramson Family Recital Hall, the Studio Theatre, a dance studio, an electronics studio, rehearsal space, and classrooms.
Architecture
The 130000 square feet (12,077.4 m²) Katzen complex was designed by Einhorn, Yaffee and Prescott Architecture and Engineering. Constructed of French limestone and precast concrete, the Katzen offers such distinctive features as a sky-lit rotunda that is 90 feet (27.4 m) in diameter, ramps to connect classrooms with exhibition areas, and window-walls framing several landscape views. The lead architect/designer was Jamshid Sepehri; Principal in Charge was Steven Kleinrock.AU Museum's Permanent Collections
The Katzen Collection is a private collection from Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen. It was donated to the university in 2005. The collection comprises more than 300 artworks, including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture. The Katzen Collection has a several focuses: Pop Art, Washington art, and glass sculpture. Larry RiversLarry Rivers
Larry Rivers was an American artist, musician, filmmaker and occasional actor. Rivers resided and maintained studios in New York City, Southampton, New York and Zihuatanejo, Mexico.-Biography:...
, Red Grooms
Red Grooms
Red Grooms is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life...
, and Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
are prominent in the collection, as well as Washington artists Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, and Bill Willis. The Katzen Collection also contains three large bronze sculptures by Nancy Graves
Nancy Graves
Nancy Graves was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime-filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the moon...
, one of which is a working clock.
This extraordinary gift was inspired by Myrtle Katzen's love of the art department which she discovered through taking classes at the university. She found great support in painting with a group of alumni artists in the AU studios. Cyrus Katzen, who graduated from Georgetown University's School of Dentistry in 1941, became a supporter of the university through his close friendship with President Benjamin Ladner and Vice President Don Myers. "The art in our collection makes you smile and laugh," Cy Katzen says.
Significant exhibitions
- November 6 - December 30, 2007 - Abu GhraibAbu GhraibThe city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
. The painter Fernando BoteroFernando BoteroFernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist. His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity...
created a series featuring uncompromising, graphic images that expressed his outrage at the United States-led abuse and torture of IraqiIraqi peopleThe Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...
insurgentInsurgentInsurgent, insurgents or insurgency can refer to:* The act of insurgency-Specific insurgencies:* Iraqi insurgency, uprising in Iraq* Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, uprising in India* Insurgency in North-East India...
prisoners. The Paris-based Botero, known for his exaggeratedly rotund figures in benign social satires, unveiled these controversial works in Europe in 2005. The American University Museum was the first museum venue in the United States of the Abu Ghraib series. While a departure from Botero's usual subjects, the series related to work he did that portrayed violence by the drug cartelDrug cartelDrug cartels are criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking...
in his native ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. After reading official reports about Abu GhraibAbu GhraibThe city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
, he concentrated in his works on the suffering and dignity of the victims.
- 2008 - Noche Crist: A Romanian Revelation. Noche CristNoche CristNoche Crist, née Maria Nicola Olga Ioan, was an American artist. Her eclectic mix of paintings, prints, installations and sculptures throughout her long life was unique...
was Washington art’s unofficial doyenne of decadence for almost 60 years. Born in RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in 1909, Noche moved to Washington, D.C., in 1947 after World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She lived and worked there until her death in 2004. A re-creation of her boudoir was one of the installations featured in the 2008 posthumous retrospectiveRetrospectiveRetrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
.
General information
Museum HoursOpen Tuesday - Sunday 11-4pm
The museum is also open one hour prior to performing arts events in the Katzen. Museum admission is free.
Director and Curator
Jack Rasmussen
Jack Rasmussen
Jack Rasmussen is the Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC. A native of Seattle and raised in San Jose, Jack Rasmussen earned his bachelor’s degree in art from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, before launching a long...
, PhD
Curator's Blog http://art_at_thekatzen.typepad.com/art_thekatzen/
Metro
The nearest Metrorail stop is the Tenleytown-AU station (Red Line). Walk west on Nebraska Avenue (about 20 minutes) to the campus, or take the M4 or N2 Metrobus to Ward Circle.
Related links
- American University Museum
- Erica Jong, Review: "Botero Sees the World's True Heavies at Abu Ghraib", Washington Post, 4 Nov 2007
- Art @ the Katzen Blog