American University Museum
The American University Museum is located in the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. It is a three-story, 30,000 square foot 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 130,000-square-foot 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 in diameter, ramps to connect classrooms with exhibition areas, and window-walls framing several landscape views. The lead architect on this project 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 is comprised of 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 Rivers, 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.1
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.2
Notes
1 http://www.american.edu/cas/katzen/museum/collections_katzen.cfm
2 http://www.american.edu/cas/katzen/museum/collections_watkins.cfm