Arthur B. Culvahouse jnr likes to say that he knows nothing about art.
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But when the United States ambassador to Australia is asked to name his favourite piece on the walls of the embassy residence in Canberra, he doesn't hesitate.
His pick is a show-stopping landscape by the late American colourist Wolf Kahn, one of the first things a visitor sees upon walking through the grand front entrance of the southern-style mansion that houses the embassy in Yarralumla.
"I like vibrant colours, I like landscapes," he told The Canberra Times on Wednesday, during an event to show off the art collection he has acquired on loan as part of the US Art in Embassies initiative.
"I like water, and I love outdoors and fishing. But I just really like landscapes, I tend to be a little understated."
He sounded almost apologetic, as though a penchant for landscapes was a substandard reason for choosing a Wolf Kahn for the entrance hall.
In fact, when he first began preparing to move to Australia, he consulted his own sister, Melinda Hardy, as to what kind of art to bring with him.
"I said, 'I have something called the Arts in Embassies program. And I need to see what we can do about it - there are a lot of bare walls here'," he said.
"What can we do to make this place look like an ambassador's residence?"
Together, they consulted with two curators of the Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, as well as the director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, who helped put together an eclectic collection to bring to Canberra.
In keeping with the Virginian style of the embassy's architecture, the works draw on a sense of place, while summing up "the richness and diversity" of American art through painting, photography, printmaking and hand-blown glass.
Mr Culvahouse said the Kahn work, The Lamoille River at Ten Bends, was one he had particularly wanted his sister to secure.
"It came from Wolf Kahn himself. It's one that he hadn't sold, and before he died, he was willing to loan it to us," he said.
The German-born painter died not long after, in March this year, at the age of 92.
His wife of more than 50 years, the artist Emily Mason, is also represented in the embassy collection, with a vivid blue abstract work, Thin Ice.
Mr Culvahouse said that rather than bringing a sense of home to his temporary digs, the works emphasised the differences between the building's architecture, and modern American art.
"I just like the visual variation," he said.
"I mean, for some of it, it took me a while to grow on me."
Asked to provide an example, he immediately pointed to a large green abstract by Peruvian artist Javier Tapia that hung in the dining room.
"But on the other hand, this house is so traditional, and it took me a while to realise the contrast between the old and the new, the traditional and the less traditional," he said.
"And my sister was right on that. She said, 'Wait a minute, just breathe for three months'."
He's now been in Canberra for 19 months, and said the city reminded him of Washington in the early 1970s.
"When I first went there, which was in 1973, there was nothing outside of the belt yet. It was a capital city, but it didn't have all that [diplomatic precinct] McLean stuff, and Tysons, none of that existed. Those were farms. [Canberra] reminds me a lot of Washington back then, in a good way. And I've been to Moscow and New York City, I can be a city snob too. But I like it."