July 18, 2013
Today is the birthday of Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of South Africa. He is 95. This is an appropriate time to consider a South African work in VMFA’s collection. Sue Williamson, a South African artist, found this object in a thrift shop. It’s a pass book, and a remnant of…
April 9, 2013
Today, April 9, 2013, marks the 20th anniversary of the death at the age of 96 of the internationally renowned singer and humanitarian, Marian Anderson. Since my childhood, I had known of Anderson’s great musicality and barrier-shattering reputation as the first African American artist to perform at the White House (in 1936) and sing a…
January 21, 2013
On this important day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King and the inauguration of Barack Obama, VMFA offers some important programs to add to your calendar: Radiance from Ancient Heights: Ethiopia’s Sacred Art in Context with Richard Woodward on Jan. 24. A vibrant outpouring of art and architecture has supported the continuity of the Ethiopian church,…
December 7, 2012
Though he was born near Venice, Giovanni Battista Piranesi is rightly most often associated with ancient Rome, whose glories he depicted in a series of etchings and engravings. Piranesi’s work as printmaker was multifarious. He produced both real views and imagined views (Capricci). Of the latter, the most famous are the Prisons (Carceri,1749-50), hallucinatory views…
September 17, 2012
One-hundred fifty years ago today, 160 miles north of Richmond, a horrific battle near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek marked the turning point in the Civil War. It was the first major confrontation in the conflict to take place on Union soil and remains the single deadliest day in American history with over 23,000 casualties…
February 15, 2012
VMFA’s collections and programs interpret cultures from throughout the world and across time. The schedule for these is never confined to particular months, but the occasion of Black History month provides the opportunity to recognize some current and upcoming experiences to honor African-Americans. Lunch & Learn series featuring African-American scholar Dr. Nichole Gilpin-Hood, 12 –…
December 20, 2011
Some recent rotations of work in the American Art galleries seem particularly timely, if not in the seasonal sense. From the inaugural display of our first-ever Alexander Gardner Civil War photograph to the reappearance of three iconic Paul Strand urban images, this new showing of photography calls to mind not only the final week of…
November 29, 2011
When Dr. Peter Schertz, VMFA Jack and Mary Ann Frable Curator of Ancient Art, arrived at the museum in 2006, he recognized the statue of Caligula as one of the highlights of VMFA’s antiquities collection.Formally known as Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Caligula was born in AD 12 and became emperor of Rome at age…
November 10, 2011
What’s going on? In recent weeks a group calling itself Virginia Flaggers has undertaken a campaign asking that the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts mount Confederate battle flags on the Confederate Memorial Chapel. The endeavor has included demonstrations on site, blog postings, and contact with patrons, legislators, and media. The museum administration has recently met…
October 26, 2011
On the occasion of its 75th anniversary and the national commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, VMFA has installed new outdoor signs on its campus that interpret the history of the Confederate Soldiers’ Home, a residential compound for poor veterans that once stood on the site between 1885 and 1941. Established by R.…
