Dr. Cyrus Katzen is the proud owner of the last of the party animals.
Katzen, the dentist, businessman and benefactor whose name adorns American University’s $45 million art gallery on Massachusetts Avenue at Ward Circle, recently purchased the donkey — a remnant of the District’s 2002 “party animal” public art project — for $26,000. His check topped the highest previous sale for a party animal by $1,000.
Most of the 200 donkeys and elephants were sold at auction in the fall of 2002, generating more than $1 million for artist grants and education programs. Katzen’s 4.5-foot-by-5-foot donkey, permanently displayed in the lobby just outside the gallery across from the Katzen Cafe, was the last holdout.
“Party animals was a very significant public art project,” said Dorothy McSweeney, chair of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. “It was embraced just universally across the city.”
The donkey was designed by Larry Rivers, the American pop painter and sculptor, and was the last item to emerge from the artist’s studio following his death in 2002. Rivers and Katzen were friends, American University spokeswoman Maralee Csellar said.
“The donkey’s been awaiting the final settlement of his estate before being transferred to its new owner,” Mayor Anthony Williams said Wednesday, before accepting the check from Katzen.
The university now has six party animals on campus.
