University Galleries

Keith and Nita Kattner began acquiring art in the 1990s and have since amassed an impressive collection of paintings and drawings by prominent 19th and 20th century American artists. Keith, an Illinois State University alumnus and former neurosurgeon now working as an artist, recalls being spellbound at the age of ten while viewing paintings by Grant Wood, Robert Henri, and other American artists at the Joselyn Museum of Art in Omaha, Nebraska. This experience, coupled with his passion for U.S. history, fueled his ongoing, intensive study of American painting and the couple’s desire to view it in an intimate domestic setting.