Special Exhibitions
Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic
June 11 – September 5, 2016
Altria Group and NewMarket Galleries
Ticketed, VMFA members free
Accompanying catalogue
Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic presents a stunning retrospective of this artist’s prolific career through nearly 60 paintings and sculptures. Wiley’s work raises intriguing questions about race, gender, and the politics of representation by portraying contemporary African American men and women using the conventions of traditional European portraiture. Appropriating the format of specific paintings by renowned masters ranging from Titian to Édouard Manet, Wiley often depicts his subjects wearing sneakers, hoodies, and other gear associated with today’s hip-hop culture and sets them against ornate decorative backgrounds that evoke earlier eras and cultures. By replacing the European aristocrats with contemporary black subjects, Wiley’s portraits draw attention to the absence of African Americans from historical and cultural narratives. Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. It is curated by Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum. Organized for VMFA by Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at VMFA.
Gordon Parks: Back to Fort Scott
July 23 – October 30, 2016
Evans Court Galleries
Free
Accompanying catalogue
Gordon Parks, one of the most celebrated African-American artists of his time, is the subject of this exhibition of groundbreaking photographs of Fort Scott, Kansas – focusing on the realities of life in the segregated South during the 1940s, but also relating to Parks’ own fascinating life story. In 1948, Gordon Parks (1912-2006) became the first African-American photographer to be hired full time by LIFE Magazine, where he would eventually become the most acclaimed black photographer of the day. He used this assignment to revisit early memories of his birthplace, many involving serious racial discrimination, and to reconnect with childhood friends, all of whom went to the same all-black grade school that Parks had attended. One of the most visually rich and captivating of all his projects, Parks’ photo essay was slated to appear in LIFE in April 1951, but was never published. Presented by The Gordon Parks Foundation and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this exhibition represents a rarely-seen view of everyday lives of African-American citizens in the South, years before the Civil Rights movement began in earnest. Organized for VMFA by Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch: Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life
November 19, 2016 – February 20, 2017
Altria Group and NewMarket Galleries
Ticketed, VMFA members free
Accompanying catalogue
Many contemporary artists have drawn inspiration from the art and life of Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch (1863-1944)—including Andy Warhol, Jim Dine, Elizabeth Murray, Georg Baselitz, and Anselm Kiefer. Their re-uses of Munch’s images have functioned as a two-way lens, giving insight into their own practice while helping to redefine the understanding of Munch’s art through their acts of reception and translation. This exhibition and the accompanying publication explore the unlikely but compelling connection between the work of Munch and Jasper Johns (born 1930). During a crucial point midway through his career, Johns looked to Munch’s defining themes of love, sex, loss, and death, as well as his innovative working methods, as sources of inspiration. Johns routed Munch’s art through a dense process of quotation, repetition, displacement, substitution, and elision to create his own images while opening his work to themes and meanings shared with Munch. Organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in partnership with the Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway. Curated by John B. Ravenal, Executive Director, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (former Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, VMFA).
The Rachel Lambert Mellon Collection of Jean Schlumberger
February 10– June 18, 2017
Evans Court Galleries
Free
One of the most important public collection of jewelry and objects by one of the 20th century’s most important designers, The Rachel Lambert Mellon Collection of Jean Schlumberger will be on view for the first time at VMFA. In the 1930’s, Schlumberger’s stunning early creations of costume jewelry for Elsa Schiaparelli’s boutique—porcelain flower brooches, gilt angel clips, and the like—became the rage of Paris and New York. After Schlumberger’s success with Schiaparelli, many of his friends asked him to design “real” jewelry for them, and he began to create clips, brooches, bracelets, and necklaces awash with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, in settings of gold and platinum. In the 1950s, Walter Hoving invited Schlumberger to become a vice-president of his firm, Tiffany & Co, whose Fifth Avenue store became the new location of the Schlumberger shop. Over the years, Schlumberger continued to design jewelry and jeweled objects, extending his oeuvre to include designs for costumes, textiles, and the theatre. Curated by Dr. Mitchell Merling, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art.
Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style
May 6 – August 27, 2017
Altria Group and NewMarket Galleries
Ticketed, VMFA members free
Accompanying catalogue
Yves Saint Laurent: The Perfection of Style, showcases highlights from the legendary designer’s 44 year career – drawn from the collection of the Fondation Pierre Bergé—Yves Saint Laurent, the exhibition features new acquisitions by the Foundation that have never been shown publicly before. With a selection of 100 haute couture garments, SAINT LAURENT rive gauche clothing and accessories, photographs, drawings, films and other multimedia elements from the Foundation’s vast archive, the exhibition creates a visually rich environment for visitors to witness the development of Saint Laurent’s style and recurring themes throughout the designer’s career. The multifaceted exhibition is curated by independent Parisian curator and fashion expert Florence Müller in collaboration with Chiyo Ishikawa, Deputy Director of Art and Curator of European Painting & Sculpture, Seattle Art Museum. The exhibition is organized by the Seattle Art Museum in partnership with the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, Paris.
Ongoing Special Exhibitions:
A Floral Jubilee: The Art of Louise Cochrane
Through June 5, 2016
Mellon Focus Galleries
Free
For more than four decades, Louise B. Cochrane forged a deep and meaningful partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Now, after many years of benefiting from her dedicated service as a volunteer, patron, donor, and board member, VMFA has the opportunity to celebrate Mrs. Cochrane’s most enduring passion: painting flowers. The opening of A Floral Jubilee: The Art of Louise Cochrane coincided with what would have been Mrs. Cochrane’s 100th birthday, and the exhibition features 58 works – including a portrait of a mixed bouquet that was inspired by the 2015 VMFA exhibition Van Gogh, Manet, and Matisse: The Art of the Flower. Curated by Dr. Susan J. Rawles, Associate Curator of American Painting and Decorative Art.
Thomas Schiff: Virginia 360˚
Through June 19, 2016
Evans Court Galleries
Free
Accompanying publication
Thomas Schiff: Virginia 360˚ is an exhibition of 40 panoramic photographs of well-known sites across Virginia. Using a Hulcherama 360 panoramic camera – manufactured in Hampton, Virginia – accomplished photographer Thomas Schiff seeks to immerse the viewer in Virginia’s visually rich and exceptional historical built environments, arising from beautiful natural environments. The exhibition opened at VMFA, and is traveling to our statewide partners across the Commonwealth. Curated by Michael Taylor, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Art and Education, and Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Educator and Manager of Statewide Programs and Exhibitions.
Snowy Landscapes: Japanese Woodblock Prints by Kawase Hasui
Through August 3, 2016
Works on Paper Gallery
Free
A leading printmaking artist, Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) was known for his vivid winter landscapes. Snow at the Zojoji Temple depicts a woman holding an umbrella, as she walks in the snow in front of this ninth-century Buddhist temple. The Zojoji Temple was one of Hasui’s favorite subjects, and he created several prints of this sacred site over the course of his career. In this 1929 version, one of twelve prints in the exhibition, Hasui used contrasting colors and an atmospheric perspective to create a snowy winter scene. Other works, also drawn from the more than 500 Hasui prints donated to VMFA by René and Carolyn Balcer, include Japanese landmarks such as the Heian Shrine in Kyoto, Mount Fuji near Tokyo, and the rural area in Yoshida. Seen together, they demonstrate Hasui’s remarkable skills as a printmaker and colorist, as well as his extraordinary ability to capture Japan’s identity and spirit in his landscapes. Curated by Li Jian, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art.
Kertész
Through October 30, 2016
Photography Gallery
Free
Regarded by art historians as one of the most important and influential photographers of the 20th century, André Kertész was a leading proponent of seeing the world through a Modernist eye. This exhibition of 30 photographs is drawn from VMFA’s collection and highlights the artist’s early career in Hungary while also focusing on seminal moments during the sixty years when he worked in Paris and then New York City. Born in Hungary in 1894, Kertész bought his first camera at age sixteen before being drafted into the army. Later, he moved to Paris where he worked as a freelance magazine photographer, joining a community of Hungarian expatriate artists who included Brassaï, Marcel Breuer, Robert Capa, and Lajos Tihanyi. Kertész’s work gained attention in Paris and the United States, and in 1936, he and his wife, Elisabeth, immigrated to New York City. After his first few years in New York, Kertész’s photographs were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s comprehensive exhibition Photography, 1839-1937. He went on to work for Condé Nast for nearly twenty years, and thousands of his photographs were published in their magazines, including House & Garden and Vogue, as well as other publications such as Harper’s Bazaar. During his lifetime, he had major solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art and received numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and Commander of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Kertész is curated by VMFA Director Alex Nyerges.
Collections and Gallery Installations
Permanent Collection on Tour: Fabergé
VMFA’s Fabergé Gallery is closed while the acclaimed collection is on tour, however, the Imperial Rock Crystal Easter Egg and some additional objects by Fabergé have been installed in the Vaulted Hall adjacent to the Marble Hall. The majority of VMFA’s world-renowned Fabergé collection is on international tour and will return to VMFA in October 2016.
Current venue: The Palace Museum, Beijing, China: through July 17, 2016.
Truland Foundation Media Resource Room
Ongoing
Visitors to the Sydney and Frances Lewis Mid to Late-20th Century Galleries will discover a newly outfitted space designed to bring the artists featured in VMFA’s Modern and Contemporary collections to life. Equipped with selections of VMFA catalogues and a video kiosk, the Truland Foundation Media Resource Room is a place to discover the stories behind some of the most popular holdings in these collections. Listen to artist interviews – with Chuck Close, Bill Viola, Sally Mann, Sol LeWitt, and many others – using the touch screen monitors and deepen your understanding of the artistic process. The space and kiosk were a gift of former VMFA Trustee and President of the Truland Group, Robert W. Truland, and his family. VMFA’s Canvas membership group donated funds to help support the artist interviews.
VMFA WestRock Art Education Center Exhibitions
VMFA: Beneath the Surface!: Opens April 23, 2016
VMFA Studio School Exhibitions
Works in Color: through May 20, 2016
The Alchemy of Pots & Prints: Number Eleven: June 6 – July 1, 2016
Inside/Out: VMFA Staff Art Exhibitions: July 11 – August 19, 2016
Studio School Faculty Exhibition 2016: Sept. 12 – Oct. 21, 2016
Collage & Assemblage (work by students of Chuch Scalin): Oct. 28, 2016 – Jan. 12, 2017
Recent Paintings (paintings by students of Sally Bowring & Matt Lively): Feb. 6 – March 10, 2017
Drawings (Studio School-wide curated exhibition): March 17 – April 14, 2017
Portraits in Painting & Drawing (drawings & paintings by students of Marjorie Perrin): April 21 – May 26, 2017
The Alchemy of Pots & Prints: Number Twelve (prints & pottery by students of Steven Glass, Mary Holland & Chris Palmer): June 5 – Aug. 18, 2017
VMFA Pauley Center Exhibitions
Lessons Learned (Paintings by Daniel Calder): through August 14, 2016
Tyrone Turner: Aug. 18. 2016 – Feb. 20, 2017
Amuse Restaurant & Claiborne Robertson Room Exhibitions
New Space Imagery (paintings by Kelly Queener): through Aug. 7, 2016
Madeleine Hardy: Aug. 12 – Feb. 12, 2017
VMFA Statewide Exhibitions
The French Horse from Géricault to Picasso: Works from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
National Sporting Library and Museum, Middleburg, through July 31, 2016
University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Sept. 1 – Oct. 9, 2016
First Look: VMFA 2016 Fellows at Workhouse Arts Center, through July 3, 2016
THE GREAT WAR: Printmakers of World War I
The Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia, August 26, 2016 – December 18, 2016
VMFA at Richmond International Airport
Lake Elster and Beyond (Photos by William Connally) through July 31, 2016
Leigh Anne Chambers: Aug. 1, 2016 – Feb. 5, 2017
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About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 35,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary—and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European—VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide program features traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the Commonwealth. VMFA is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
