Decorating walls with paintings made on fresh plaster is a grimy, laborious practice, which in the Middle Ages was thought to be the most mechanical and craftsman-like task of the painter. Beginning in the 14th century however, higher artistic standards began to reveal just how splendidly a chamber could be transformed by fresco painting. By the end of the 15th century, the fresco painter was hailed as the most ambitious and able of all artists. In this lecture we learn the techniques — good and bad — that mural painters used. See how truly great painters, such as Botticelli and Ghirlandaio in the 15th century and Michelangelo and Raphael in the 16th century, triumphed as fresco artists above all others.
Archives
First Impressions: A Brief History of Early Illustrated Texts
During the mid-15th century, the invention of printing and movable type changed the distribution of the visual medium. In this talk, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts librarian Nick Curotto covers the processes and technology of early printing and assembling of texts with a focus on the incorporation of print illustrations. The techniques of relief and intaglio printing will be discussed highlighting the artists, artisans, and printers who were imperative in the progression of technologies during the hand-press period of the 15th – 18th centuries.
Climbing the Walls: Building Chartres Cathedral (1150 – 1260)
One hour’s drive southwest of Paris, Chartres Cathedral stands as a magnificently complete example of Gothic architecture, sculpture, and stained glass. But what looks like a unified design is really the result of several extended building campaigns that lasted for years and required the work of many skilled craft persons. Every level of the huge building is accessible through passageways in the thickness of the buttresses. This talk is richly illustrated by the speaker’s images of Chartres Cathedral.
This program has been organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is funded, in part, by the Jean Stafford Camp Memorial Fund.
Captains, Philosophers, Merchants, and Kings: Picturing the 17th Century
This illustrated talk investigates the dramatic changes in the 17th-century technology and philosophy that set the stage for the modern world. Works of art, including portraits, prints, sculptures, and textiles from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, illustrate the shifts in international alliances, economic competition, and world view that are characteristic to this traditional age.
Japanese Aesthetics
Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s seminal text, In Praise of Shadows (1933), discusses Eastern, specifically Japanese, ideals of beauty. Contrary to the Western framework of thinking, Japanese aesthetics favors the in-between, typically discarded or overlooked places of beauty: the grey shadows, the tea ceremony, and even a toilet seat. By looking at examples of Japanese fine and decorative arts, we will discuss Tanizaki’s major ideas concerning Eastern Aesthetics and then apply his understanding to the works in the VMFA permanent collection.
The Sacred Architecture of Japan
This lecture explores Shinto and Buddhism, two of the major religions of Japan. The overview includes a discussion of how they developed, their places of worship, their sources, aesthetic principles, and how they are applied to life and art in Japan.
Japanese Culture during the Edo Period
The Edo Period was the time of shoguns, samurai, Kabuki, and the famous ukiyo-e prints. This lecture provides the context for these elements and discusses the subjects, techniques, and aesthetic principles of the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of Japan.
Building the Korean Collection at the VMFA
Trace the development of the Korean collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from the first Korean artwork of a 8th-century gilt bronze Buddha that entered the collection in 1969 to the recent purchase of a 19th-century lacquer box. Explore how the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Korean art collection has grown through public donations and museum purchases. The speaker will also introduce the Museum’s first Korean gallery built through the generous support of the Korea Foundation in Seoul.
Cartier: Innovation & Inspiration
Since the 1890s, the name Cartier has been synonymous with sparkle, glamour, and opulence. But behind the iridescent jewels lies a tale of multiple inventions, famous clients, cutting-edge design, and a love affair with material, color, and fashion. In this lecture, you’ll explore these tales and see examples of the various styles Cartier popularized from 1900 to the 1950s.
Those Gaudy Ancients: Exploring the Color of Antiquity
We encounter ancient sculptures thousands of years after they were created and can readily imagine the complete form of these statues, despite missing parts and broken bits. But it is much harder to imagine something we hardly ever glimpse — color! Ancient statues were painted, often with bright, gaudy pigments. This lecture explores the color of ancient statues and how modern researchers are discovering surviving traces of those colors in order to recreate sculpture’s original appearance.