April 1, 2011
Images of cats are plentifully in evidence in VMFA’s exhibition: A Celebration of Print: 500 years of Graphic Art from the Frank Raysor Collection. The exhibition runs until May 22nd in the Mellon Focus Galleries. Admission to the exhibition is free. Here are three of my favorite cats from the show: Cornelis de Visscher…
March 29, 2011
You asked and we heard! In honor of our mighty VCU Rams, the VMFA shop has several collectable items for sale for those with Ram Fever, each uniquely appropriate to the museum’s collection and to Virginia. Marvel at this Faberge-inspired ram locket with ram charm. Every Imperial egg in VMFA’s collection has a surprise inside,…
March 15, 2011
“Beware the Ides of March,” so says the soothsayer in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Little did visitors to the VMFA this morning realize that it was they who needed to beware. Innocently coming to the museum, perhaps for a bit of Ife, perhaps for a bit of Picasso, perhaps just to enjoy our permanent galleries (for…
March 8, 2011
Three new pedestals have magically appeared in the Classical Art Gallery, each holding magnificent examples of Greek art. Together with a case featuring Geometric and Archaic art, these pedestals give the gallery a chronological spine in the form of a survey of Greek pottery from the 8th through the 4th centuries BCE. The first…
March 7, 2011
There is a very interesting story behind Septimius Severus—both the man himself and the statue of him at VMFA. What some people don’t know is that this Roman emperor was born in Lepcis Magna, North Africa, and so was sometimes referred to as the “African Emperor.” When Severus was 18, he moved to Rome to…
March 4, 2011
As we continue to explore selected works from the VMFA’s exhibition A Celebration of Print: 500 Years of Graphic Art from the Frank Raysor Collection, the “democracy” of the print medium becomes apparent. As something becomes cheaper and more widely available, more people will see it and own it. Prints often allowed a broader demographic…
February 28, 2011
At this Friday Films, March 4, 2011, VMFA will present film director Tim Reid with his guest Richard Roundtree showing Reid’s 1996 motion picture directorial debut, Once Upon a Time…When We Were Colored, in which Roundtree plays the sturdy ice man, Cleve. Afterwards they will be joined by Tim’s lovely wife, actress Daphne Maxwell Reid,…
February 28, 2011
“The finest landscape etching in the world.” This is the fifth in a series of blog posts discussing highlights of the exhibition A Celebration of Print: 500 Years of Graphic Art from the Frank Raysor Collection currently on display in VMFA’s Mellon Focus Galleries. Admission to this exhibition is free. Claude Lorrain is best known…
February 24, 2011
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts discussing highlights of the exhibition A Celebration of Print: 500 Years of Graphic Art from the Frank Raysor Collection currently on display in VMFA’s Mellon Focus Galleries. Admission to this exhibition is free. In this post collector and donor Frank Raysor contributes to our knowledge…
February 11, 2011
This is the third in a series of blog posts discussing highlights of the exhibition A Celebration of Print: 500 Years of Graphic Art from the Frank Raysor Collection currently on display in VMFA’s Mellon Focus Galleries. Admission to this exhibition is free. One of the pleasures of A Celebration of Print is the wide…
