VMFA Book Club: Using books about artists or works of art currently on view at VMFA to pique curiosity and open discussions, VMFA Book Club explores these specific works of art as well as the setting and period surrounding the art. NOTE: Reading the book is helpful but not required. The VMFA Shop stocks a limited supply of each book.
July Book Club: Christopher Oliver, Assistant Curator of American Art, discusses this biography of Edward Curtis, a popular early 20th-century photographer who was best known for his evocative portraits of Native Americans. Financed by J.P. Morgan, Curtis and his staff spent more than 30 years researching, photographing, and writing about Native Americans and their way of life, which was rapidly disappearing. One of his iconic oratones (glass-plate photographs) was recently acquired by the VMFA.
Image: Before the Storm, 20th century, Edward S. Hopper, photographic print on glass plate with metallic backing (Curt-tone). A. Paul Funkhouser Endowment Fund