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…
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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.
Propaganda 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…
Request ProgramPop Art: Blurring Boundaries
Pop Art brought mass consumerist culture into museums and galleries in the early 1960s radically changing the course of art by eliminating the boundary between “high” culture and everyday life. Part of what paved the way was that it was the first major art movement with a sense of humor. This talk, using images of…
Request ProgramAspects of Ingenuity and Innovation: A Potter’s Perspective on VMFA’s Ceramic Art Collection
From Greco-Roman pottery to Annabeth Rosen’s clay sculptures, the VMFA’s ceramics collection includes examples of not only great artistic achievement but technological invention as well. Greek red and black figure ware, Koran sanggam inlay decoration, San Ildefonso Pueblo black ware, high fire celadons, and Japanese tea ceremony vessels are but part of an enduring, endearing…
Request ProgramFrom Invisibility to Political Activism: the Black Experience in American Art
Historically, and in our own time, African American artists have foregrounded in their work the social, political, and cultural successes of Black Americans and have offered vociferous critiques of violations of their civil rights, and of systemic racism. In their art they questioned racial stereotyping and engaged their audience in thoughtful, but also provocative interrogations…
Request ProgramBeautiful Chinese Cuisine Visual Journey
Chinese cuisine is an important part of Chinese culture. When we are homesick, we always say that we are missing the homeland taste of food where we grew up. If we cook, we can make anywhere our home. Also, if we cook, we can have a travel experience through cuisines from different cultures. There is…
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