Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Encyclopedia
The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia
, in the United States
, which opened in 1936.
The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all acquisition of artwork, as well as additional general support. Admission itself is free (except for special exhibits). It is one of the first museums in the American South
to be operated by state
funds.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, together with the adjacent Virginia Historical Society
, anchor the eponymous "Museum District" of Richmond (alternatively known as "West of the Boulevard
").
and prominent Virginian John Barton Payne
. Payne, in collaboration with Virginia Governor John Garland Pollard
and the Federal Works Projects Administration secured federal funding to augment state funding for the museum in 1932. Eventually, a site was chosen on Richmond's Boulevard
. The site was toward the corner of a contiguous six-block tract of land which was then being used as an American Civil War veterans' home
, with additional services for their wives and daughters (the state having earlier acquired title in exchange for helping to subsidize the operations).
The main building was designed by Peebles and Ferguson Architects of Norfolk, and has been alternately described as Georgian Revival
and English Renaissance
, deliberately taking cues from Inigo Jones
and Christopher Wren
. Construction began in 1934. Two wings were originally planned, yet only the central portion was actually built. The museum opened on January 16, 1936.
In 1947, the VMFA was given the Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection
of some 150 jeweled objects by Peter Carl Fabergé
and other Russian workshops, including the largest public collection of Fabergé egg
s outside of Russia
. The Museum also received in 1947 the "T. Catesby Jones Collection of Modern Art". Further donations in the 1950s came from Adolph D. Williams and Wilkins C. Williams and from Arthur and Margaret Glasgow, in particular, the museum's oldest funds used for art acquisitions.
Leslie Cheek Jr., whose father built Cheekwood, became director of the museum in 1948. His tenure was noted as having had a significant impact on the course of the institution; his obituary in the New York Times noted that he "transformed [the VMFA] from a small local gallery to a nationally known cultural center." Cheek's innovations included, in 1953, the world's first "Artmobile", a mobile tractor-trailer that housed exhibits with the purpose of reaching rural areas (prior to the presence of local museum galleries); and in 1960, in order to be accessible to a broader public, the introduction of the first night hours at an art museum.
Cheek cultivated a degree of theatrical "showmanship" in the exhibits during this time, such as velvet drapery for the installation of the Fabergé collection, the "tomb-like" setting of the museum's Egyptian exhibit, and using music to set the mood in the galleries. It was also during his time as director that the museum's first addition was built in 1954 by Merrill C. Lee, Architects, of Richmond. The wing, funded in part by Paul Mellon
, included a theater, with the intent of combining the performing arts and visual arts in a single facility. Cheek retired from the museum in 1968.
The second addition, the South Wing, was designed by Baskervill & Son Architects of Richmond and completed in 1970. It featured four new permanent galleries and a large gallery for loan exhibitions, as well as a new library, photography lab, art storage rooms and staff offices. A gift of funds from Sydney and Frances Lewis
of Richmond in 1971, provided for the acquisition of Art Nouveau
objects and furniture.
In 1976, a third addition, the North Wing, was completed. Designed by Hardwicke Associates, Inc., Architects, of Richmond. Adjacent to this was built a sculpture garden with a cascading fountain by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin
. The wing served as the new main entrance for the museum, with a separate dedicated entrance for the theater. It also added three more gallery areas - two for temporary exhibitions and one for the Lewis Family's Art Nouveau Collection, as well as a members' dining room, gift shop, and other visitor functions. However, the curved walls of its "kidney-shaped" design proved to be functionally awkward and impractical, a factor in its later replacement. Eventually, the 1976 wing and sculpture garden were demolished to make room for the 2010 McGlothlin Wing.
In the following years, the Lewises and the Mellons proposed major donations from their extensive private collections, as well as helping to provide the funds to house them. In December 1985, the museum opened its fourth addition, the 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) square foot West Wing. The architects, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates
of New York, were chosen by the Lewis's following their 1981 design for the Best Products
headquarters building north of Richmond. The wing now houses their respective collections.
In May, 2010, the museum opened a $150-million building expansion, adding 165000 square feet (15,329 m²), increasing the museum’s gallery space by nearly 50 percent. Whereas the 1976 wing had faced inward toward a parking lot, the new wing re-oriented the entrance to the Boulevard, in addition to reopening the original 1936 entrance. The design includes a three-story atrium named for Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane with a 40 feet (12.2 m)-tall glass wall to the east and broad expanses of glass walls to the west, and a partially glazed roof. The London-based architect Rick Mather
partnered with Richmond-based SMBW in the design of the building, while landscape architecture was handled by Olin Partnership. Landscaping included a new 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) sculpture garden named for philanthropists E. Claiborne and Lora Robins. The new wing is named in honor of patrons James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin; the major focus of the wing is on American art, and to support the installation and interpretation of its American collections, in 2008 the museum received a $200,000 grant from the Luce Foundation. The expansion received one of the 2011 RIBA International Award
s for architecture.
In 1941, the museum presented an exhibition of Modernist works by artists of the School of Paris from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr (which later became the basis for the Chrysler Museum of Art
).
In the 1950s, VMFA originated shows such as "Furniture of the Old South" (1952), "Design of Scandinavia" (1954) and "Masterpieces of Chinese Art" (1955). In the 1960s, there were "Masterpieces of American Silver", followed by "Painting in England, 1700-1850," which drew heavily from the private collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and was at that time the most comprehensive exhibition of British painting ever presented in the United States. In 1967, the museum also mounted a major exhibition of the work of the English social satirist William Hogarth.
In 1978, the museum presented an exhibition on Colonial cabinetmaking in early Virginia, "Furniture of Williamsburg and Eastern Virginia, 1710-1790." Another first, and one that received widespread international attention, was the 1983 exhibition "Painting in the South: 1564-1980."
In the fall of 1996, VMFA was one of five major American museums to present "Fabergé in America" and "The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé." These two exhibitions, featuring more than 400 objects and 15 imperial Easter eggs, drew more than 130,000 visitors to Richmond.
In 1999, the museum presented "Splendors of Ancient Egypt," an exhibition assembled from the renowned collection of the Pelizaeus Museum
in Hildesheim, Germany. Nearly a quarter of a million people saw the show in Richmond. It was one of the largest exhibitions of Egyptian art ever to tour the United States.
In 2011, VMFA was one of the seven museums worldwide chosen to display and exhibit one hundred seventy-six paintings from the personal collection of Pablo Picasso
. The exhibit was scheduled to run from February 19 - May 15, 2011 in ten galleries of the newly renovated museum. In speaking of the exhibit, director Alex Nyerges noted: "An exhibition this monumental is extremely rare, especially one that spans the entire career of a figure who many consider the most influential, innovative and creative artist of the 20th century." The collection of paintings is from a permanent collection housed in the Musée Picasso
, now under renovation. The Paris
museum was opened in 1985 to exhibit Picasso's collection of his personal favorite work, dating from 1881-1973.
The VMFA is a member of the French Regional & American Museums Exchange (FRAME).
.
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, which opened in 1936.
The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all acquisition of artwork, as well as additional general support. Admission itself is free (except for special exhibits). It is one of the first museums in the American South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
to be operated by state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
funds.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, together with the adjacent Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical Society
The Virginia Historical Society , founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history...
, anchor the eponymous "Museum District" of Richmond (alternatively known as "West of the Boulevard
West of the Boulevard
West of the Boulevard, alternately known as the Museum District, is a neighborhood in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It is anchored by the contiguous six-block tract of museums along the west side of Boulevard, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Historical Society, hence...
").
Origins
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has its origins in a 1919 donation of 50 paintings to the Commonwealth of Virginia by JudgeJudge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
and prominent Virginian John Barton Payne
John Barton Payne
John Barton Payne was United States Secretary of the Interior from 1920 through 1921 under Woodrow Wilson.-Life and career:...
. Payne, in collaboration with Virginia Governor John Garland Pollard
John Garland Pollard
John Garland Pollard was an American politician who served as the 51st Governor of Virginia from 1930 to 1934.-Early life:...
and the Federal Works Projects Administration secured federal funding to augment state funding for the museum in 1932. Eventually, a site was chosen on Richmond's Boulevard
Boulevard (Richmond, Virginia)
Boulevard is a historic street in the near West End of Richmond, Virginia, providing access to Byrd Park. It serves as the border between the Carytown/Museum District to the west and the Fan district to the east...
. The site was toward the corner of a contiguous six-block tract of land which was then being used as an American Civil War veterans' home
Old soldiers' home
An old soldiers' home is a military veteran's retirement home, nursing home, or hospital, or sometimes even an institution for the care of the widows and orphans of a nation's soldiers, sailors, and marines, etc.-United States:...
, with additional services for their wives and daughters (the state having earlier acquired title in exchange for helping to subsidize the operations).
The main building was designed by Peebles and Ferguson Architects of Norfolk, and has been alternately described as Georgian Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
and English Renaissance
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London and the Treaty of Utrecht ....
, deliberately taking cues from Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
and Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
. Construction began in 1934. Two wings were originally planned, yet only the central portion was actually built. The museum opened on January 16, 1936.
Expansion and acquisitions
John Lee Pratt
John Lee Pratt was an American businessman. He was born in King George County, Virginia, received a civil engineering degree from the University of Virginia, entered the ranks of American business executives in two major U.S...
of some 150 jeweled objects by Peter Carl Fabergé
Peter Carl Fabergé
Peter Karl Fabergé also known as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé in Russia was a Russian jeweller of Baltic German-Danish and French origin, best known for the famous Fabergé eggs, made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane materials.-Early...
and other Russian workshops, including the largest public collection of Fabergé egg
Fabergé egg
A Fabergé egg is any one of the thousands of jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. Most were miniature eggs that were popular gifts at Eastertide...
s outside of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The Museum also received in 1947 the "T. Catesby Jones Collection of Modern Art". Further donations in the 1950s came from Adolph D. Williams and Wilkins C. Williams and from Arthur and Margaret Glasgow, in particular, the museum's oldest funds used for art acquisitions.
Leslie Cheek Jr., whose father built Cheekwood, became director of the museum in 1948. His tenure was noted as having had a significant impact on the course of the institution; his obituary in the New York Times noted that he "transformed [the VMFA] from a small local gallery to a nationally known cultural center." Cheek's innovations included, in 1953, the world's first "Artmobile", a mobile tractor-trailer that housed exhibits with the purpose of reaching rural areas (prior to the presence of local museum galleries); and in 1960, in order to be accessible to a broader public, the introduction of the first night hours at an art museum.
Cheek cultivated a degree of theatrical "showmanship" in the exhibits during this time, such as velvet drapery for the installation of the Fabergé collection, the "tomb-like" setting of the museum's Egyptian exhibit, and using music to set the mood in the galleries. It was also during his time as director that the museum's first addition was built in 1954 by Merrill C. Lee, Architects, of Richmond. The wing, funded in part by Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon KBE was an American philanthropist, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame...
, included a theater, with the intent of combining the performing arts and visual arts in a single facility. Cheek retired from the museum in 1968.
The second addition, the South Wing, was designed by Baskervill & Son Architects of Richmond and completed in 1970. It featured four new permanent galleries and a large gallery for loan exhibitions, as well as a new library, photography lab, art storage rooms and staff offices. A gift of funds from Sydney and Frances Lewis
Sydney Lewis
Sydney Lewis was a prominent Virginia businessman, philanthropist, and art collector.Born in Richmond, Virginia, he was the founder of Best Products Co. . He is the namesake of Lewis Hall at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, whose construction he and his wife, Frances, funded in...
of Richmond in 1971, provided for the acquisition of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
objects and furniture.
In 1976, a third addition, the North Wing, was completed. Designed by Hardwicke Associates, Inc., Architects, of Richmond. Adjacent to this was built a sculpture garden with a cascading fountain by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin
Lawrence Halprin
Lawrence Halprin was an influential American landscape architect, designer and teacher.Beginning his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in 1949, Halprin often collaborated with a local circle of modernist architects on relatively modest projects. These figures included William...
. The wing served as the new main entrance for the museum, with a separate dedicated entrance for the theater. It also added three more gallery areas - two for temporary exhibitions and one for the Lewis Family's Art Nouveau Collection, as well as a members' dining room, gift shop, and other visitor functions. However, the curved walls of its "kidney-shaped" design proved to be functionally awkward and impractical, a factor in its later replacement. Eventually, the 1976 wing and sculpture garden were demolished to make room for the 2010 McGlothlin Wing.
In the following years, the Lewises and the Mellons proposed major donations from their extensive private collections, as well as helping to provide the funds to house them. In December 1985, the museum opened its fourth addition, the 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) square foot West Wing. The architects, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates
Malcolm Holzman
Malcolm Holzman FAIA, is an American architect, who practices in New York City, and is a founding partner of Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates .-Life and career:...
of New York, were chosen by the Lewis's following their 1981 design for the Best Products
Best Products
Best Products is a defunct chain of American catalog showroom retail stores founded by Sydney and Frances Lewis, formerly headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.- History :...
headquarters building north of Richmond. The wing now houses their respective collections.
Redesigned campus
By the 1990s, the functions of the Confederate Home for Women had ceased, and its last residents moved out. In 1999, the Center for Education and Outreach (now the Pauley Center), housing the museum's Office of Statewide Partnerships, opened in the former women's home. Eventually, the remainder of the veterans camp property was transferred between state agencies to the museum, allowing it create a unified plan (begun in 2001) for what now totaled 13 1/2 acres of land in an otherwise built-out residential part of the city.In May, 2010, the museum opened a $150-million building expansion, adding 165000 square feet (15,329 m²), increasing the museum’s gallery space by nearly 50 percent. Whereas the 1976 wing had faced inward toward a parking lot, the new wing re-oriented the entrance to the Boulevard, in addition to reopening the original 1936 entrance. The design includes a three-story atrium named for Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane with a 40 feet (12.2 m)-tall glass wall to the east and broad expanses of glass walls to the west, and a partially glazed roof. The London-based architect Rick Mather
Rick Mather
Rick Mather is an American-born architect working in England. Born in Portland, Oregon and awarded a B.arch. at the University of Oregon in 1961, he came to London in 1963 where he founded his own practice, Rick Mather Architects, a decade later....
partnered with Richmond-based SMBW in the design of the building, while landscape architecture was handled by Olin Partnership. Landscaping included a new 4 acres (16,187.4 m²) sculpture garden named for philanthropists E. Claiborne and Lora Robins. The new wing is named in honor of patrons James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin; the major focus of the wing is on American art, and to support the installation and interpretation of its American collections, in 2008 the museum received a $200,000 grant from the Luce Foundation. The expansion received one of the 2011 RIBA International Award
RIBA International Award
RIBA International Awards are part of an awards program operated by the Royal Institute of British Architects, also encompassing the Stirling Prize and the European Award.The RIBA International Award rewards "the excellent work being done by RIBA members around the world"...
s for architecture.
Permanent collection
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has divided its encyclopedic collections into several broad curatorial departments, which largely correspond to the galleries:- African Art: In 1994 and 1995, the museum exhibited its entire 250-object African art collection in "Spirit of the Motherland: African Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts." As of 2011, the collection has grown to around 500 objects, with particular strengths in the art of the Kuba, the AkanAkan artAkan art is an art form that originated among the Akan people of west Africa. Akan art is known for Akan goldweights, as well as cultural jewelry. The Akan people are known for their strong connection between visual and verbal expressions...
, the YorubaYoruba peopleThe Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
, and the KongoKongo peopleThe Bakongo or the Kongo people , also sometimes referred to as Kongolese or Congolese, is a Bantu ethnic group which lives along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire to Luanda, Angola...
peoples, and the art of MaliMaliMali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
.
- American art: The American art collection began with twenty works of the John Barton Payne donation. Since the 1980s, the museum has begun to systematically build its holdings in American art, aided in 1988 by the creation of an endowment to make such acquisitions by patrons Harwood and Louise Cochrane.
- In 2005, the McGlothlin family promised a bequest of their collection of American art and financial support, valued at well above $100 million.
- Ancient American art
- Ancient art: Begun in 1936, the Ancient collection expanded under Director Leslie Cheek, with the advice of the Brooklyn MuseumBrooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
and other institutions. The collection consists of works from the Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Phrygian, Etruscan, Ancient Roman, and Byzantine civilizations. It includes one of two ancient Egyptian mummies in the city of Richmond, "Tjeby" (the other is at the University of RichmondUniversity of RichmondThe University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...
).
- Art Nouveau & Art Deco: Begun from the core collection of furniture and decorative arts the Lewis family began assembling in 1971; today it includes Art NouveauArt NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
works by Hector GuimardHector GuimardHector Guimard was an architect, who is now the best-known representative of the French Art Nouveau style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries....
, Emile GalleÉmile GalléÉmile Gallé was a French artist who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major forces in the French Art Nouveau movement.- Biography :...
, Louis MajorelleLouis MajorelleLouis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ébéniste...
, Louis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
, works by the Vienna SecessionVienna SecessionThe Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. This movement included painters, sculptors, and architects...
and Peter BehrensPeter BehrensPeter Behrens was a German architect and designer. He was important for the modernist movement, as several of the movements leading names worked for him when they were young.-Biography:Behrens attended the Christianeum Hamburg from September 1877 until Easter 1882...
, Arts & Crafts works by Charles Renee Mackintosh, Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
, Stickley, and Greene & Greene, and Parisian Art Deco pieces by Eileen GrayEileen GrayKathleen Eileen Moray Gray was an Irish furniture designer and architect and a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture.- Biography :...
and Émile-Jacques RuhlmannÉmile-Jacques RuhlmannÉmile-Jacques Ruhlmann , his first names often seen reversed as Jacques-Émile, was a renowned French designer of furniture and interiors, epitomising for many the glamour of the French Art Deco style of the 1920s....
.
- East Asian art: Begun in 1941, the East Asian collection consists of Chinese, Japanese and Korean art. The collection includes Chinese jade, bronzes and Buddhist sculpture, Japanese sculpture, paintings from Kyoto, as well as Korean ceramics and bronzes from two private collections. In 2004, the collection added two stunning imperial Buddhist paintings from the Qing dynasty, dating from 1740. The collection also includes the Rene and Carolyn Balcer Collection of works by the Japanese woodblock artist Kawase HasuiKawase Hasuiwas a prominent Japanese painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and one of the chief printmakers in the shin hanga movement.Kawase studied ukiyo-e and Japanese style painting at the studio of Kaburagi Kiyokata...
-- that collection consists of some 800 works, woodblock prints, screens, watercolors and other works by Hasui, including beautiful rarely-seen prints made by Hasui prior to the 1923 earthquake that destroyed half of Tokyo.
- European art: The European collection began with the original 1919 Payne donation, and has since grown to include works by Bacchiacca, MurilloBartolomé Estéban MurilloBartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
, PoussinPoussinPoussin refers to:*Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian mathematician*Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian geologist and mineralogist, father of Charles Jean*Nicolas Poussin , French painter...
, RosaSalvator RosaSalvator Rosa was an Italian Baroque painter, poet and printmaker, active in Naples, Rome and Florence. As a painter, he is best known as an "unorthodox and extravagant" and a "perpetual rebel" proto-Romantic.-Early life:...
, GentileschiArtemisia GentileschiArtemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Early Baroque painter, today considered one of the most accomplished painters in the generation influenced by Caravaggio...
, Goya,and Bouguereau.
- In 1970, Ailsa Mellon Bruce donated some 450 European decorative objects, including a group of 18th- and 19th-century gold, porcelain and enamel boxes.
- Paul Mellon's donations added to this French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works and a collection of British Sporting Art, given to the museum in 1983. At his death in 1999, Mellon bequeathed additional French and British works, including five paintings by George StubbsGeorge StubbsGeorge Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses.-Biography:Stubbs was born in Liverpool, the son of a currier and leather merchant. Information on his life up to age thirty-five is sparse, relying almost entirely on notes made by fellow artist Ozias Humphry towards the...
.
- English silver: In 1997 a collection of 18th- and 19th-century English silver was given to the museum by Jerome and Rita Gans.
- Fabergé The Pratt FabergéFabergéFabergé may refer to:*House of Fabergé, a Russian jewelry firm founded by Gustav Faberge in 1842*Fabergé workmaster, goldsmiths who produced jewelry for the House of Fabergé*Fabergé eggs, the most famous works of the House of Faberge...
collection includes five Imperial Easter EggsFabergé eggA Fabergé egg is any one of the thousands of jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. Most were miniature eggs that were popular gifts at Eastertide...
: the Rock Crystal Egg of 1896, the Pelican EggPelican (Fabergé egg)The Dowager Fabergé egg, is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1898...
of 1898, the Peter the Great EggPeter the Great (Fabergé egg)Peter, the Great Egg, is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé in 1903, for the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Tsar Nicholas presented the egg to his wife, the Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna...
of 1903, the Tsarevich Egg of 1912, and the Red Cross with Imperial Portraits Egg of 1915.
- The South Asian collection comprises works from what is today India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Tibet. The collection began in the late 1960s, with the initial core of the Himalayan collection coming in 1968. When the 2010 wing was completed, a 27-ton marble late-MughalMughal architectureMughal architecture, an amalgam of Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian architecture, is the distinctive style developed by the Mughals in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It is symmetrical and decorative in style.The Mughal dynasty was...
garden pavilion from Rajasthan was installed inside the galleries.
- Modern & Contemporary: The core of the Modern & Contemporary collection was assembled by Sydney and Frances Lewis in the mid- to late-20th century. Much of the more than 1,200 works in their collection were acquired by trading products (such as appliances and electronics) from their company, Best ProductsBest ProductsBest Products is a defunct chain of American catalog showroom retail stores founded by Sydney and Frances Lewis, formerly headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.- History :...
, to artists in exchange for works, while at the same time befriending many of them.
Special exhibitions
In addition to the galleries that display selections of the permanent collection, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts presents special exhibitions of artwork drawn from its own and others' collections, as well as work of active artists.In 1941, the museum presented an exhibition of Modernist works by artists of the School of Paris from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr (which later became the basis for the Chrysler Museum of Art
Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum in the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was originally founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. , donated most of his extensive collection to the museum...
).
In the 1950s, VMFA originated shows such as "Furniture of the Old South" (1952), "Design of Scandinavia" (1954) and "Masterpieces of Chinese Art" (1955). In the 1960s, there were "Masterpieces of American Silver", followed by "Painting in England, 1700-1850," which drew heavily from the private collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and was at that time the most comprehensive exhibition of British painting ever presented in the United States. In 1967, the museum also mounted a major exhibition of the work of the English social satirist William Hogarth.
In 1978, the museum presented an exhibition on Colonial cabinetmaking in early Virginia, "Furniture of Williamsburg and Eastern Virginia, 1710-1790." Another first, and one that received widespread international attention, was the 1983 exhibition "Painting in the South: 1564-1980."
In the fall of 1996, VMFA was one of five major American museums to present "Fabergé in America" and "The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé." These two exhibitions, featuring more than 400 objects and 15 imperial Easter eggs, drew more than 130,000 visitors to Richmond.
In 1999, the museum presented "Splendors of Ancient Egypt," an exhibition assembled from the renowned collection of the Pelizaeus Museum
Roemer-und-Pelizaeus-Museum
The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, in Hildesheim, Germany, is one of the most important museums in Europe with regard to Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Peruvian art. The museum also includes the second largest collection of Chinese porcelain in Europe...
in Hildesheim, Germany. Nearly a quarter of a million people saw the show in Richmond. It was one of the largest exhibitions of Egyptian art ever to tour the United States.
In 2011, VMFA was one of the seven museums worldwide chosen to display and exhibit one hundred seventy-six paintings from the personal collection of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
. The exhibit was scheduled to run from February 19 - May 15, 2011 in ten galleries of the newly renovated museum. In speaking of the exhibit, director Alex Nyerges noted: "An exhibition this monumental is extremely rare, especially one that spans the entire career of a figure who many consider the most influential, innovative and creative artist of the 20th century." The collection of paintings is from a permanent collection housed in the Musée Picasso
Musée Picasso
The Musée Picasso is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris dedicated to the work of the artist Pablo Picasso .-Building:...
, now under renovation. The Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
museum was opened in 1985 to exhibit Picasso's collection of his personal favorite work, dating from 1881-1973.
The VMFA is a member of the French Regional & American Museums Exchange (FRAME).
Programs
The Office of Statewide Partnerships delivers programs and exhibitions throughout the commonwealth via a voluntary network of more than 350 nonprofit institutions (museums, galleries, art organizations, schools, community colleges, colleges and universities). Through this program, the museum offers crated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences and workshops by visual and performing artists. Included in the statewide partnership offerings is a special program of exhibitions, programs and educational resources tailored to help students meet the state's Standards of LearningStandards of Learning
Standards of Learning ' is a public school standardized testing program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It sets forth learning and achievement expectations for core subjects for grades K-12 in Virginia's Public Schools...
.