Talks + Lectures

Thu, Jan 9, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

Join artists Jill Frank, Tommy Kha, and José Ibarra Rizo who will be in conversation about the meaning of portraiture and identity in Southern photography. Co-curators of A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845, Sarah Kennel, VMFA's Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center, and Greg Harris, High Museum of Art's Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography, will lead the discussion with these artists, whose works are featured in the special exhibition.

Livestream available
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PARTICPANTS BIOS
Jill Frank is an Atlanta-based artist and educator. She is currently an Associate Professor of Photography at Georgia State University. Frank was a 2021 Artadia Award recipient and a 2022 Warhol Nexus Grant recipient. Reviews of her work have appeared in Art Forum, Art in America, and The Paris Review. She has had solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia. She attended School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA studio art) and Bard College (BA Photography).  
 
Gregory J. Harris is the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. He is a specialist in contemporary photography with a particular interest in documentary practice. Since joining the High Museum in 2016, Harris has curated more than a dozen exhibitions that consider an array of topics including social justice, the intersections of photography and self-taught art, and distinct history of photography in the South. 
 
Tommy Kha, born in Memphis, Tennessee, received his Photography MFA from Yale University. He is the recipient of the Hayes Prize, Next Step Award, Foam Talent, Creator Labs Photo Fund, NYSCA/NYFA Photography Fellow.  His first major publication, Half, Full, Quarter, was published by Aperture in February 2023.  He currently teaches at Yale School of Art, and occasionally serves as a critic in the MFA photography program. His first museum show will open at the Addison Gallery of American Art in September 2025. 
 
José Ibarra Rizo is a Mexican American multidisciplinary artist based in Atlanta. His work primarily focuses on identity, with an emphasis on the migrant experience in the American South. Rizo is the recipient of the inaugural MINT + ACP Emerging Artist Fellowship. He is one of three awardees for the 2022 Atlanta Artadia Awards and one of three winners of the 2023–24 Working Artist Project for MOCA GA. His work lives in the permanent collections of multiple museums, including VMFA and the High Museum of Art.

Thu, Jan 23, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
Leslie Cheek Theater
$8 (VMFA members $5)

Explore the wildly creative but often misunderstood period in the life of Hungarian-born American photographer André Kertész. Interweaving Kertész’s photographs, particularly self-portraits, with the artist’s life story, Robert Gurbo, President of the André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, will unveil a powerful and brooding body of art hidden beneath the surface of seemingly simple images. The exhibition American, born Hungary: Kertész, Capa, and the Hungarian American Photographic Legacyis on view at VMFA Oct 5, 2024–Jan 26, 2025.

Livestream available
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PARTICPANTS BIOS
Robert Gurbo, president and managing director of the Estate of André Kertész and The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, met Kertész while working as a photographer on the CCF-CETA Artists Project in 1978. He worked with Kertész during the last seven years of the photographer's life and has spent the last 39 years meticulously combing through his archive. Gurbo is the co-author of the catalogue that accompanied the 2005 National Gallery exhibition, André Kertész, published by Princeton University Press. He is also the editor and author of André Kertész: The Early Years and André Kertész: The Polaroids. In addition, he organized the reissue of Kertész’s seminal book, On Reading. He has contributed to numerous publications and catalogues; lectured on André Kertész throughout the world; and is an advisor to museum curators, gallerists, and collectors. 
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IMAGE Lost Cloud, 1937, André Kertész (Kertész Andor), (American, born Hungary, 1894–1985), gelatin silver print, 8 1/2 x 5 3/8 in. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of the Artist, 312.1965 ©️ 2024 Estate of André Kertész

The Rough and the Smooth in 17th-century Dutch Painting
With Dr. Ronni Baer, the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Distinguished Curator and Lecturer at the Princeton University Art Museum

Wed, Jan 29, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

Join us for the inaugural Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III Lecture, presented by Dr. Ronni Baer, the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Distinguished Curator and Lecturer at the Princeton University Art Museum. Dr. Baer will explore work by 17th-century Dutch artists Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, and Gerrit Dou. Paintings by Hals and Dou are currently on view in the Saunders Collection. 

In the 17th century, Dutch art theorists discussed two distinct styles of painting: the neat or smooth and the rough or loose. Neat painting was believed to engage the viewer for a long time, delighting the eye. By contrast, the rough style was considered “modern” and said to have the power to move the observer. Participants will be encouraged to look closely at works of art and consider the choices the artists made at the easel.

The Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III Distinguished Lecture is presented by a scholar annually to foster the study and appreciation of European art. It is made possible through the generous support of the Saunders family.

Livestream available

RESCHEDULED: The lecture will now take place on Wed, Jan 29, 2025. It was originally scheduled for Wed, Sep 25, 2024. 

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IMAGE Man Writing in an Artist’s Studio, 1631–32, Gerrit Dou (Dutch, 1613–1675), oil on panel. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Jordan and Thomas A Saunders III Collection
 

Fri, Jan 31, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm | Conversation with Q&A
7:30–8:30 pm | Reception
Leslie Cheek Theater & Marble Hall
$8 (VMFA members, $5)
Free for K-12 and college educators and students with ID. Please phone 804.340.1405 to reserve free tickets. 

Go behind the scenes with the creators and stars of Smarthistory, Drs. Beth Harris and Steven Zucker, as they share stories behind their compelling content. Experience the premiere of VMFA-featured videos and learn about the launch of their new website. Founded in 2005 and beloved by educators and students in secondary and higher education as well as lifelong learners, Smarthistory is a hub for public art history with thousands of free videos and essays. This event includes a reception in the Marble Hall with special recognition for educators.

View the Smarthistory videos that highlight objects from VMFA’s Collection on Smart History's website.

Livestream available
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PARTICPANTS BIOS
Dr. Beth Harris is co-founder and executive director of Smarthistory. Previously, she was dean of art and history at Khan Academy and director of digital learning at The Museum of Modern Art. Before joining MoMA, she was Associate Professor of art history and director of distance learning at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she taught both online and in the classroom. She holds a master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and doctorate from the City University of New York.

Dr. Steven Zucker is co-founder and executive director of Smarthistory. Previously, he has served as dean of art and history at Khan Academy, chair of history of art and design at Pratt Institute, and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY and chair of art history. He earned his doctorate from the City University of New York.

Sun, Feb 16, 2025
2–3 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

Join visual journalist and educator Brian Palmer and Dr. Sarah Kennel, the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper, for a discussion about Palmer's works currently on view at VMFA. Learn more about how the artist pays tribute to history through his photography and activist work in the Richmond community.

Thu, Feb 27, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members, $5)
Cheek Theater

Last year, VMFA became the first major US art museum to lend a work from its permanent collection to a sub-Saharan African institution. This talk details the collaboration between the museum and the Congolese Plantation Workers Art League art collective located in the remote village of Lusanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo that led to this loan. Dr. Ndubuisi Ezeluomba, Curator of African Art, will explain how this historic collaborative engagement came about and recount the long and fascinating journey that he and VMFA's sculpture made.

Thu, Mar 6, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

Join Dr. Margaret Laird to explore how, where, and why nonprofessional artists created pictorial graffiti and drawings of women on walls and other media. Although women were uncommon subjects for Pompeii’s artists, their images were nevertheless given prominence and power. This lecture has adult content, including images of graffiti with mature themes.
 
The Mary Ann Frable Lecture is presented annually by a distinguished scholar to foster the study and appreciation of ancient Mediterranean art and is supported by the Jack and Mary Ann Frable Fund for Ancient Art.

Livestream available
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Speaker Bio
Dr. Margaret Laird is Associate Professor of Latin and Classics at the University of Delaware. She earned her PhD from Princeton University. Her published work includes the book Civic Monuments and the Augustales in Roman Italy.
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IMAGE Agrippina the Elder, AD mid 1st century, Roman, marble. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 68.69

Thu, Apr 3, 2025*
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

 
Join exhibition curator Dr. Sarah Powers for a talk that marks the opening of Frida: Beyond the Myth. Learn how the exhibition moves past the mythology surrounding Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and how it elucidates the inspiring life and work of this extraordinary woman whose jewel-like paintings are among the most memorable and haunting images of the 20th century. Dr. Powers will explore works on view in the exhibition, which showcases a selection of paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs.

*Please note this date, as the talk was rescheduled after the Winter/Spring 2025 Classes & Programs brochure published.
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IMAGE Frida Kahlo, 1931, Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883–1976), gelatin silver print. Private Collection ©️ Estate of Imogen Cunningham