VMFA to offer free admission to Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style
Complimentary tickets offered on May 18, 2017 in celebration of Art Museum Day
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will offer free admission to Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style on Thursday, May 18, 2017, as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) annual Art Museum Day. Last year, VMFA—along with more than 175 other AAMD member museums across North America—participated in Art Museum Day.
Complimentary exhibition tickets will be provided on May 18, 2017 only. Tickets can be reserved in person, online at www.VMFA.museum or by phone at 804.340.1405. While general admission to VMFA is always free, select exhibitions each year—including Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style—require admission fees.
“Art Museum Day is an opportunity for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to share our stunning new exhibition, Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style, at no cost to visitors,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA Director. “We are honored to extend free admission to the exhibition on May 18 as part of our continuing commitment to make arts and culture more accessible for the Richmond community and beyond.”
The theme of this year’s Art Museum Day is Art Museums Foster Vibrant Communities. AAMD members across the United States, Canada, and Mexico will be offering programs and initiatives to celebrate the arts and the important role art museums play in their communities. In addition to bringing the best of human creativity to people across North America, museums serve as engines for the creative economy, partners with school systems and civic organizations, and anchors for public spaces and neighborhoods—making their regions better places for everyone who lives and works there.
“The arts are shared by people across every time period and every place: Creativity is a vital part of what makes us human and what makes our cities and towns better places to live,” said Chris Anagnos, Executive Director of AAMD. “On Art Museum Day, museums across North America invite everyone to come together with their families, friends, and neighbors to celebrate that creative spirit, connect in common experiences, and see new points of view. AAMD greatly appreciates VMFA’s participation in Art Museum Day, and the contributions all art museums make to the vibrancy, economy, and strength of their communities.”
AAMD represents 245 art museums—from regional museums in small towns to large museums in major urban centers. Art Museum Day focuses attention on the role of art museums in North America, as a component of the International Council of Museums (ICOM)’s celebration of International Museum Day.
A list of participating AAMD member art museums is available on the AAMD website.
VMFA encourages visitors to share their Art Museum Day experiences via social media, using the hashtags #ArtMuseumDay and #YSLVMFA.
About Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style
Drawn from the unparalleled collection of the Paris-based Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent and other private collections, this breathtaking exhibition offers an intimate and comprehensive look at the lifetime achievement of Saint Laurent, one of history’s most radical and influential fashion designers. Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style continues through August 27, 2017.
Featuring 100 examples of haute couture and ready-to-wear garments–some never shown publicly before–this exhibition reveals Saint Laurent’s artistic genius, as well as his working process, and the sources of his design inspiration. VMFA is the only East Coast venue for the exhibition, which has been organized by the Seattle Art Museum in partnership with the Paris-based Fondation.
Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style is curated by Florence Müller, the Denver Art Museum’s Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art and Curator of Fashion, in collaboration with Chiyo Ishikawa, Seattle Art Museum’s Deputy Director of Art and Curator of European Painting and Sculpture. Barry Shifman, VMFA’s Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Decorative Arts, 1890 to the present, is the organizing curator for VMFA.
Sponsorship for Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style
Sponsors include Northern Trust, the Julia Louise Reynolds Fund, Teri Craig Miles, Eda Hofstead Cabaniss, First Tennessee Bank, Julia and Tunnicliff Fox Charitable Trust, Dr. and Mrs. William Jackson Frable, Floyd and Helga Gottwald, McGue Millhiser Family Trust, Norfolk Southern Corporation, the Virginia Sargeant Reynolds Foundation, Deborah and Thomas Valentine, and The Winebow Group.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA, which opened in 1936, is a state agency and privately endowed educational institution. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret art, and to encourage the study of the arts. Through the Office of Statewide Partnerships program, the museum offers curated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences, and workshops by visual and performing artists. In addition to presenting a wide array of special exhibitions, the museum provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a global collection of art that spans more than 5,000 years. VMFA’s permanent holdings encompass more than 35,000 artworks, including the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, the finest collection of Art Nouveau outside of Paris, and one of the nation’s finest collections of American art. VMFA is home to important collections of English silver and Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, British sporting, and modern and contemporary art, as well as renowned South Asian, Himalayan, and African art. In May 2010, VMFA opened its doors to the public after a transformative expansion, the largest in its 80-year history. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is the only art museum in the United States open 365 days a year with free general admission. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
Additional information about Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style:
https://vmfa.museum/pressroom/news/vmfa-showcase-art-innovation-haute-couture-design/