Themes of childhood and family recur in nineteenth-century French Impressionist painting, from Berthe Morisot’s experimental self-portraits with her daughter Julie Manet, to Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s everyday scenes of his three sons and their nanny. Drawing primarily upon works from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, this lecture will closely…
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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.
VMFA’s Little Giant Controversy: Stuart Davis, Modernism, and Cold War Politics
In 1950, Stuart Davis’ Little Giant Still Life went on view at VMFA as part of an avant-garde American painting exhibition. When the cubist-inflected canvas entered the permanent collection, the museum found itself in the midst of a highly publicized debate between leading New York critics and Virginia traditionalists. This lecture relates the unfolding scandal…
Request ProgramA Tale of Two Sofas: Belter at VMFA
Following several years of new research and an extensive conservation campaign, a magnificent pair of sofas in the VMFA collection have emerged with a captivating history and a distinctive look. Produced by the celebrated furniture maker John Henry Belter over 160 years ago, the near-identical sofas graced the homes of powerful American businessmen and socialites…
Request ProgramFrom Pot Latch to Pow Wow: Clothing as Cultural Identifier
Although Native American clothing has never been altered specifically for a tourist market, several indigenous groups have incorporated outside materials and aesthetics into the long-standing tradition of using clothing as a cultural identifier. This lecture will investigate the tradition of the Pow Wow and the regalia associated with it, discuss the attempt by Euro-Americans to…
Request ProgramNew Materials, New Message: Glass and Bronze Work
Explore the art of several 20th and 21st century Native American artists who have employed modern technology and materials to create works that are distinctive combinations of new mediums and traditional ideas. This lecture will review the glass work of Preston Singletary (Tlinglit) and Susan Point (Salish), collaborative works by Chris Tarpley (Choctaw/Chickasaw/Cherokee) and Nathan…
Request ProgramEuropean Arrival: The Native Art World from the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries
The response of European collectors to the art of the indigenous people of the New World encouraged Native American artists to use more recognizably ‘European’ forms and materials in their work while still producing items that tourists would find suitably ‘Indian.’ This lecture will explore the bead and quillwork of the North Atlantic coast, the…
Request ProgramRaiders of the Lost Art
Art crime has become a multi-billion dollar industry, one branch of which is the looting and black market trade of art and artifacts from tombs and temples–the world’s oldest treasure troves. Market demand for antiquities has had catastrophic consequences for many of the world’s ancient sites. Streamlining of the industry has caused an ever-increasing flow…
Request ProgramGesture: Abstract Expressionists
From brushstrokes to drips and palette knives to spray cans, this lecture explores the role of the artist’s mark in several iconic paintings from the Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s 20th- and 21st-century collection. While abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, whose bold, energetic, and seemingly messy applications of paint are best…
Request ProgramArmchair Adventures: Henri Rousseau and His Fantastical Landscapes
Join Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Collection Educator and Manager, Statewide Programs and Exhibitions, as he explores the unique life and work of the French artist, Henri Rousseau. The essentially self-taught painter created cityscapes and portraits as well as dream-like exotic jungle scenes without stepping out of the city. During his lifetime his work was ridiculed by…
Request ProgramAwaken: Tibetan Buddhist Art at VMFA and Beyond
In his overview of the South Asian and Islamic Art holdings of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, John Henry Rice reviews the history of how one of North America’s finest collections of South Asian and Himalayan art came to richmond.
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