From its founding to today, Virginia has played host and backdrop to emerging and established artists who successfully define the creativity, innovation, and beauty of the state. This presentation jumps through eras and mediums to provide an overview of Virginia’s contributions to the art world, shedding light on the talented visual artists and their works all connected to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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Archived Lectures. Some no longer available. Please visit the Statewide Faculty page for up-to-date listings.
VMFA Speakers on the Arts lectures are an excellent complement to programming at partner sites. They can also introduce new areas of art to Partner audiences and enhance community events and celebrations. A wide selection of topics and speakers is available for VMFA Statewide Partners. See Booking Speakers on the Arts for information about requesting a lecture.
At First Blush: The Use of Pink in Art
The color pink – in all its many hues – is often included in an artists’ palette. This visual presentation highlights the use of pink and its effectiveness to punctuate, enhance, and emphasize within a multitude of mediums.
Request ProgramDwellings: The Interiors of Pierre Bonnard
Nabi artist Pierre Bonnard, revered for his brushwork and style, created an extensive portfolio of interior scenes infused with color and light. Move through these painted places and spaces, from a table set for dinner to an open window overlooking the landscape, and a studio prepped for creativity to an intimate domestic dwelling.
Request ProgramDesigning Women: French Art Nouveau and Deco Decorative Arts and Women
This talk will focus on women and their role in the Decorative arts between 1890 to 1930, with a specific focus on French Art Nouveau and French Art Deco styles. Women served as model and muse for Art Nouveau and Art Deco artists, which will be discussed in this talk through numerous artworks in the…
Request ProgramMuseums and Social Responsibility
Museums are places for ideas and dialogue that use collections, exhibitions, and programs to inspire people. The power of museums lies in acting as agents of social change. Museums are uniquely positioned to acknowledge and accept the needs, concerns, and issues of the diverse, often disenfranchised, and shifting audience landscape. As a place of dialogue…
Request ProgramPropaganda vs. Social Commentary in Art During World War I
The Twentieth Century presented society with a long list of incomprehensible situations and events, beginning with World War I. Acting as a buffer between the horrors of reality and individual’s perceptions of the world, art helps to inform, explain and educate society, but it can also be used to change people’s perceptions. In August 1914,…
Request ProgramThe Nativity Cycle in Western Art
Narrative scenes of the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary were, by the Middle Ages, the most common images in Western art, and were found throughout the architecture of the church – pulpit, doors, altarpieces, and so on. These scenes were remarkable for their consistency of composition. The reason is that these scenes were…
Request ProgramOn With the Show…
Anthropomorphism parodies our tendency to see the human in everything, reminding us at the same time of the separate, secret reality of nature. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphized animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognized types of human behavior. This lecture traces the anthropomorphic development of the classic characters…
Request Program“My Day Long Obsession, Joy and Torment”: The Use of Color in Art
The American Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko once said: “A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience.” Objectively, color is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye. Subjectively, color is a sensation, a human reaction to a hue arise in part from…
Request ProgramArt Goes to War: The Tragedies of Franz Marc and August Macke
When World War I broke out in August 1914, many German Expressionist artists initially believed it could be the apocalyptic event that would at last overthrow the self-satisfied materialism of the nation’s monarch and bourgeoisie. Franz Marc and August Macke, two of the leading artists of German Expressionism, were among those who enlisted for active…
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