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Lafayette students will soon have a new venue to hone their art history skills when the Easton Modern and American Art Center opens this spring. Robert S. Mattison, Metzgar Professor of Art History, will serve as the center’s director and has played an integral role in developing its concept and design.
“When it’s completed, it will be the most important collection of modern art in the Lehigh Valley,” says Mattison.
Located at 516 Northampton Street in a building that was home to Easton’s first talking movie theater, the center will be open to the public on weekends and by appointment. There is also store space in the front of the building that Mattison would like to see turned into a retail and coffee shop area. Koehler Kheel Realty LLC is renovating the building.
The center will be the permanent home of important works by artists Robert Rauschenberg, Nancy Graves, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Terrell. Some of the works span up to 15 feet long. While those artists’ works will make up the core of the center’s collection, Mattison expects to bring in other works and loan pieces to other museums.
Nearing completion, the center will boast not only important works of modern art, but also state-of-the-art technology to connect visitors with resources and events worldwide. Computer kiosks will be bookmarked with artists’ sites and links to art and cultural events happening throughout the world. The equipment also will allow for international videoconferencing, and the center will feature large-screen video monitors.
“Modern art can activate the imagination,” says Mattison. “I’m very interested in increasing connections between Lafayette and Easton, which is in the middle of a cultural renaissance.”
Mattison notes that the center will be an important addition for the artistic climate of the downtown area. One of his primary responsibilities as director will be coordinating and organizing events open to area colleges and universities, as well as secondary schools.
The center also will serve as a testing ground for Lafayette art majors, many of whom go on to work in museums, galleries, and foundations after graduation. Putting in time at the center will allow them to enhance their résumés and refine their career choices. The center also will play a large role in Lafayette’s new museum studies seminar course that is in development.
Lafayette College Theater’s production of Museum by Tina Howe, this year’s Closs Writer-in-Residence, will be performed at the center April 18-21. According to The New York Times, the play is a “comedy of absurdities with a serious message.” It is being directed by Michael O’Neill, associate professor of English and director of theater.
The center’s permanent collection is based on that of Theodore Kheel, who many consider one of the most important labor arbitrators of the 20th century. Kheel, who purchased the building for the center, was Rauschenberg’s lawyer. Mattison writes on all of the artists in the permanent collection and has published extensively on Rauschenberg. His strong professional relationship with Rauschenberg led the artist to invite Mattison to become part of the project.
Because of the high-grade electronics, the center will be well equipped as a site for conferences, charity events, and arts events. One of Kheel’s abiding interests is environmental and global warming issues, so the center also will play host to environmental events.
The center held a preview last month, with a portion of its collection on view, when it hosted a fundraising event for ProJeCt of Easton’s Fowler Literacy Center. The literacy center is scheduled to open in January and was officially named at the event.
Mattison is author of Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking Boundaries; Masterworks: Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, and Frank Stella in the Robert and Jay Meyerhoff Collection; Grace Hartigan: A Painter’s World; and Robert Motherwell: The Formative Years. He has shared his research in many academic publications, including book chapters and articles published by journals such as Arts Magazine, Art International, The New Arts Journal, The Print Collector’s Newsletter, Studies in Iconography, Women’s Art Journal, and others, as well as entries in International Dictionary of Art and Artists, The MacMillan Dictionary of Art, and The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives.
Curator of more than 25 exhibitions, Mattison most recently was guest curator for the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Allentown Art Museum. He wrote the exhibition brochure, and the Philadelphia Inquirer featured him in an article about the work. He has written essays for exhibition catalogues of galleries in Tokyo, New York City, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and other cities.
A dedicated mentor and teacher, Mattison has led students on study-abroad trips to Vienna and the Soviet Union, as well as in numerous research projects, such as Sara Nersesian ’06, an art and English graduate, andMarly Hammer ’05, an art graduate. He conducts national and international cultural tours with museum groups, providing behind-the-scenes learning experiences in art, architecture, and history in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Texas, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Vienna.
Mattison has received a number of honors and fellowships, including the Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award for excellence in research and teaching, Sears-Roebuck Award for Superior Scholarship and Teaching, Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Lecture Award, and three faculty research fellowships.
A member of the faculty since 1981, Mattison earned his Ph.D. and M.F.A. from Princeton University, M.A. from Williams College, and B.A. with high honors from Middlebury College.