Gallery Talk: Humanist Touch: Works from the Weber Collection

Curator Laura Roulet and Collectors Joan and Bruce Weber, will discuss the exhibition "Humanist Touch: Works from the Weber Collection", in a gallery talk scheduled for

Saturday, 2:00- 3:00pm

About the exhibition:

Presented by the Alper Initiative for Washington Art
Joan and Bruce Weber, Collectors
Laura Roulet, Curator

Assembled over four decades, these works from the Weber collection reflect Joan and Bruce Weber’s long engagement with contemporary DMV artists and galleries. When they describe their collection, a strong sense of community emerges, one enriched by personal ties to the artists and by the many conversations, visits, and encounters that shaped their choices.

Humanist Touch invites viewers into this world of intuitive, heartfelt collecting. Guided by a principle they call Humanist—the belief that art should reveal the hand of the maker and “demand something from us”—the Webers gravitate toward expressive mark-making, layered surfaces, and works that offer an authentic encounter with human creativity.

For visitors, the exhibition provides a rare glimpse into how a meaningful collection grows over time. It reveals which artworks linger in memory, reward close looking, and continue to spark curiosity years after acquisition. The Webers’ approach shows how collecting can begin not with expertise or wealth, but with genuine interest and the courage to follow what moves you.

Featuring painting, sculpture, photography, video, computer art, and performance documentation, the exhibition spans styles from Cubist abstraction to hyperrealism, with in-depth representations of John Winslow, Jason Gubiotti, and Inga Frick.

Ultimately, Humanist Touch invites viewers to consider their own engagement with art: What images stay with you? What sparks your curiosity? And what might you choose to live with should you begin a collection of your own?

This event will be held in-person at the museum.

Please direct any questions about this event to the museum's main contact for this event, Patricia Poku-Speight at [email protected].

Image: J.J. McCracken, The Feeding (Alice), 2020, 22 x 16 x 12 inches.

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Host or Publisher American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center