Born in Richmond, Benjamin Leroy Wigfall (America, 1930-2017) grew up in Church Hill. After taking classes at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as a high school student, he attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), with partial funding provided by VMFA fellowships.

During the program, Eckhardt and Holmes will show videos of interviews with Wigfall from 2003 and 2016 and speak about Wigfall’s work and impact. In the videos, he discusses growing up in segregated Richmond, his engaging classes at VMFA, and his experiences at Hampton University as a student and professor. On his museum visits as a teenager, Wigfall was able to see works that inspired his budding career.
After graduating from Hampton, Wigfall earned an MFA from Yale School of Design and then went back to Hampton as a professor of art in the late 1950s and early ’60s. In 1963, he moved to New York to teach art at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he also owned a gallery. Wigfall died on February 9, 2017, at the age of 87.

 

In 1951, VMFA acquired his painting Chimneys when Wigfall was just 21, making him the youngest artist to have a work enter the museum’s collection. A prestigious jury unanimously selected the work for first prize in an exhibition of Virginia artists. Chimneys is on view in VMFA’s Mid-Century American Gallery.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the VMFA’s strategic initiative to bring more arts programming into the community. As part of its outreach to the communities that it serves, VMFA is excited to share this little-known and inspirational story about a national artist with roots in Virginia.

Members of Wigfall’s family are expected to attend.

The mysterious 20th century American artist Joseph Cornell created collaged shadow boxes in the basement of his home for most of his life. Despite his minimal contact with the outside world, his works straddled Surrealism, Pop Art, and Abstract Expressionism. Considered a recluse and an “outsider” artist, this biography delves into his legendary life and unique art.

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.

Film: Belle de Jour (1967; 100 min; In French with subtitles)

Director Luis Buñuel, a member of the notorious 1920s Paris Surrealist group, realized his greatest commercial success in the late 1960s with this sly and baffling film, his first in color.  The “Old Iconoclast” modernized his brand of oneiric humor and mystery to create a very “now” experience for the era’s stylishly hip crowd.

Yves Saint Laurent designed outfits for his muse, super star Catherine Deneuve, to wear or to be torn off of her.  She plays a repressed bourgeois housewife who loses herself in fantasies–or realities?–as a high-end, daytime call girl.

This event complements VMFA’s special exhibition Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style.

This year’s Civil War and Emancipation Day highlights two significant themes in post-War Richmond that have evolved into fundamental components of our modern democracy: voting and education.

Join cultural, historical, and community organizations from Greater Richmond for a day of hands-on activities, performances, historical talks, and a mid-day keynote program.

Feeling inspired by Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic fashions? Drop by the First Friday Pop-Up to create your own paper doll!

Explore the fascinating journey of one of VMFA’s recent acquisitions. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s painting Sand Hills at Grünau was recently returned to the Fischer family heirs after they were able to prove that it was confiscated by the Nazis from the collection of Max Fischer. Join Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, VMFA Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, in conversation with Erin Mahone, Director of Cultural Arts and Jewish Education at Weinstein JCC, as they discuss the larger context for this example of art restitution and its resonance for the Jewish community in Richmond.

Join Chief Educator, Celeste Fetta, to learn more about artists and cultures that inspired Yves Saint Laurent’s designs through examination of three works in the VMFA’s permanent collection.

Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé were important collectors of Paris Art Deco objects. Many Art Deco works of art in the Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection relate to those acquired by Saint Laurent and Bergé. This 3 in 30 will explore a number of objects at VMFA that highlight the Art Deco style.

Celebrate Virginia Garden Week in Richmond with Kris Taylor!

Based in Richmond, Virginia, Kris specializes in oil paintings and etchings, but one of her favorite projects is the design and creation of whimsical lizard pins. Each pin is unique, colorful, and imbued with its own personality. Using beads, pearls, fabric, and wire, Kris gives us a glimpse into a new world of reptiles with fashion sense—and a little bit of attitude!

Kick off Virginia Garden Week with Diane Ginsberg in the VMFA Shop. Living on Virginia’s eastern shore, Diane is surrounded by gardens and abundant botanical life. She is a self-taught photographer who takes great pride in capturing the astonishing beauty of plants, flowers and natural scenery to produce exquisite note cards and stationery.