The Watkins Gallery will present different art pieces in an exhibition called "What's the Story? Narrative Art from the Watkins Collection" over the next three weeks.
"The main focus is Washington art history ... to tell the history of modern art in Washington," said Jonathan Bucci, curator of the Watkin's Gallery and an adjunct faculty teacher.
Founded in 1945, the Watkins Collection began as a memorial collection to C. Law Watkins, the founder of the modern AU Art Department. According to Bucci, Watkins was a friend of Duncan Phillips who started the Phillips Collection in Dupont in the 1930s. The collection located in Phillips' house became the first museum of modern art in the U.S. Soon after, Phillips planned to start an art school and hired Watkins, who at time was a successful business executive, to be the director of education, Bucci said.
However, in the early 1940s, Phillips closed the school but arranged with AU to bring the program "Phillips Studio House" to campus. Watkins was involved in the process as he led the way, redesigning the curriculum and hiring more faculty members. After his death in 1945, just a year after the program had moved, many of the faculty stayed behind for decades to make what the program is today, according to Bucci.
After his death, 25 friends of Watkins donated one painting each to start a memorial collection in his name. Since then, the collection has grown to more than 4,500 objects.
The works include noticeable artists from the D.C. area, who include Sam Gilliam, Jacob Kainen, Gene Davis and Alma Thomas.
"This is one of the only opportunities to get some of the pieces together," said Bucci, who also mentioned that different pieces of art from the collection can be seen in different University offices like the President's Office or Student Services. However, he says, when Kaplan opens, there will be a permanent exhibition from the collection in a formal setting.
This exhibition is one of five one-woman shows that will be shown this year, which do not include student work but rather artists from the Washington-Baltimore area or faculty at the school, Bucci said.
The show started Monda and will last until Sept. 18. It is and is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m.
