All art collections are personal. They reflect a collector’s taste and imagination. Some are very consistent, focusing on one region, period or even on one artist. Others are quite eclectic, with very different styles, periods or cultures represented. Of the two, the Weber Collection, now exhibited in part at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, tends toward the latter. However, there are some parameters. With a few exceptions, the Weber Collection is comprised totally of work by DMV artists acquired since the early 1980s. Although quite varied, a few artists are represented by multiple works. The exhibition, supported by the Alper Initiative for Washington Art, was curated and especially well placed by local independent curator Laura Roulet. While it is a selected sampling, with 87 pieces in a variety of sizes and media, it occupies the entire ground floor of the Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by a handsome catalogue featuring an informative interview of the Webers with the curator.
In the interview Bruce and Joan relate how they began to collect art, first separately and then together. Both remark about the importance of their personal relationship to each artist of every work they acquired, and their emotional connection to the works themselves. Some years ago I worked on and wrote about an exhibit of a select number of paintings by John Winslow, perhaps the star of the Webers’ collection, at the former Maryland College of Art & Design. Following it, I was invited for the first time to their home. I was very nearly overwhelmed by the quantity of art they had in their modest (but not small) Silver Spring house. It seemed that every wall of every room was covered with paintings or three dimensional wall pieces. Pedestals stood around holding small sculptures. Bruce and Joan Weber actually live with their art. They have purchased it because they love or are fascinated by it—not for its investment value. And this is a salient characteristic of the work in this show. It’s not by big names in the art market, either from decades ago or now. It’s by artists from the time and region in which they live, and whom they take pleasure in supporting.
To Roulet’s mention that they are and have been “generous supporters of DMV contemporary artists and galleries” they point out how much they enjoy studio visits and talking directly with artists whose work they eventually acquire, sometimes developing decades long friendships. Joan has been especially active with area arts organizations like the Washington Sculptors Group and the WPA. While both are originally from New York City, this level of proximity and involvement would simply not have been possible there.
John Winslow, Studio Scene with the Commander of the USS Kearsarge, oil on canvas, 70 x 103 in., 1983. Photo courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
Of the 17 paintings and watercolors by Washington artist John Winslow (1938-2024) in the collection, four, two from the early 80s, are in the exhibit. In fact, they are all showstoppers. Among them, the most memorable is Studio Scene with the Commander of the USS Kearsarge. Painted in 1983, the work is autobiographical and, like many of Winslow’s paintings, shows his relation to older art and artists.
In a deep perspective space we see the artist standing in front of a drawing table. His son sits on it behind him. At first it seems that they are looking out toward the viewer. In fact it seems that the picture plane functions on their side as a mirror. Both are staring at the appearance of John A. Winslow, Captain of the USS Kearsarge at the back of the studio. The coincidence of the name of American artist and US Navy commander is only the beginning of the suite of references in this painting.
Emphasizing his and his family’s American origin the artist is wearing a bright blue shirt, his son a red and white one. Captain Winslow commanded the USS Kearsarge in the Battle of Cherbourg off the French coast in June 1864 during the American Civil War, sinking the Confederate ocean raider CSS Alabama. The event was fascinating to the French, among them to Edouard Manet who painted several canvasses from newspaper reports. Hence, the appearance of the Captain suggests Winslow’s artistic heritage in Manet, to whose style and handling of paint shows evident affinities. There’s something about this painting that also reminds me of Velasquez’s Meninas which is also an evident fiction in the artist’s studio, extending that heritage back to the Spanish artist’s influence on both later painters.
I went into such detail about this work because it struck me as one of the best placed works in the show, in a prominent and open area. Winslow’s art strongly exhibits one of the most important qualities admired by the Webers—evidence of the “hand of the maker”—which Joan calls “humanist” and described as “the most important thread” in their collection[1]. It also indicates something about their apparent inclination toward figurative art with rich iconography. In the exhibition, Studio Scene hangs so that the viewer can stand many feet away from it, enabling a full appreciation of Winslow’s manipulation of perspective.
John Winslow, Bacchanale (After Poussin, Picasso), oil on canvas, 50 x 60 in., 2000. Photo courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
Nicolas Poussin, The Triumph of Pan, oil on canvas, 53.5 × 57.4 in., 1636, National Gallery, London. Photo Wikimedia public domain.
The other large Winslow painting in the show is equally complex and referential. Bacchanale (After Poussin, Picasso), painted in 2000, is exactly that, showing Winslow’s desire to connect to older and modern art and, as he put it, “to reconcile the great figurative traditions with modernist abstraction”.[2] In this case, two specific works, Poussin’s The Triumph of Pan (1636) and Picasso’s lithograph Bacchanale of 1957, based on the same Poussin, are Winslow’s sources. The working artist appears in this work, emphasizing painting’s ability to merge the real and the imagined.
Judith Peck, Lonna’s Kimono, oil on paper, 28 x 22 in., 2020. Photo courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center. Photo credit: Greg Staley.
In addition to remarkable paintings like these, the Webers have also collected a large number of portraits in various media, the subject often with enigmatic or odd expressions. One that stood out for me was an oil on paper by DC artist Judith Peck titled Lonna’s Kimono (2020). The red “kimono” is folded and wrapped over the model’s head, possibly meant to recall Jan Van Eyck’s famous self-portrait with a red turban. She has a quizzical expression, as though questioning some potential threat to her left. The brushwork in this oil on paper is thick and active—again “the humanist touch.”
Inge McCaslin Frick, Full Orchestra, sculpted prints, fabric, ink, 96 x 96 x 6 in., 2024. Photo Inge Frick, courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
When it comes to abstraction, we see the same preference. Works by Maggie Michael, Jason Gubbiotti, Kevin Runyon, Richard Vosseller and Inge Frick show this quite clearly. Inge Frick’s Full Orchestra (2024) is a great example. Frick’s mixture of collage, paint and ink covers a large canvas that dominates one gallery area. The swirling forms, gestures of ink and translucent leaves and other elements combine to make an impactful image that holds the trace of its making.
While the medium of painting is clearly dominant, the show includes the work of three photographers and a few prints. Of the prints, the most memorable is Helen Frederick’s exquisite Pegasus Cries—Apocalypse Again in 1972, of 1972, a work with historical references by this extraordinary printmaker.
Frank Hallam Day, Ship’s Hull 04, archival pigment print, 44 x 44 in., 2000. Photo courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
Frank Hallam Day is represented with four color photos. Ship’s Hull 04 is considerably larger than the others and could be mistaken for an abstract painting from a distance. The rough and tactile surface of the ship’s hull can almost be felt.
Connie Imboden, Untitled, #45-4-14-09-4652, Color metal print, 30 x 30 in., 2009. Photo courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
Two of Connie Imboden’s dark and emotionally charged color photos are in the show. Both untitled, #45-4-14-09-4652 is difficult to decipher yet strangely compelling.
There are also two photographic documentations of local performance artists J.J. McCracken, Sheldon Scott and Wilmer Wilson IV. I remember the latter’s performances that drew crowds to Connersmith Gallery when it was located in Trinidad DC (2007-14). A performance still from Model Citizen is striking.
Wilmer Wilson IV, Model Citizen (Head), archival pigment print, performance still, 19 x 18.25 in., 2012. Photo courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
As Roulet points out in her interview, the exhibition includes “some challenging-to-collect new media such as video and digital art.” Bruce’s reply is exemplary of the couple’s attitude about collecting: ” Art is an exploration of imagination, and video is an integration of such explorations… Our digital acquisitions are elements of composition and digital design. For this we have connected with University of Maryland academics such as Brandon Morse…or Cliff Evans, Jason Hughes and Inge Frick”.[3]
Brandon Morse, The Shakes, generative video, custom software, sound, 2015. Photo Brandon Morse, courtesy of American University Museum at the Katzen Center.
Indeed, installed on the wall opposite the entrance to the exhibit, the first thing that will capture the viewer’s attention is a mesmerizing video by Morse. Titled The Shakes, it is a constantly swirling and revolving view of dark shapes and star-like patterns flaring outward. Hard to stop looking at, it is contrasted to Cliff Evans’ slow moving The Road to Mount Weather full of political and social commentary on the opposite wall.
I would say that the most significant aspect of this exhibition is its breadth of genre and technique clearly demonstrating both the quality and diverse character of art produced in the DMV region over the past four decades. The personal aspect of the collection, based as it is on relationships and goodwill, is an example for those among us with the means to do the same.
Humanist Touch: Works from the Weber Collection, February 7 – May 17, 2026. American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016, Wednesday – Sunday, 11-4. https://www.american.edu/cas/museum/
[1] Humanist Touch: Works from the Weber Collection, Exh. Cat., Washington DC, 2026, pp. 6-7.
[2] John Winslow, “Artist’s Statement”, https://www.johnwinslow.com/artists-statement.html
[3] Humanist Touch, p. 15.
