Exhibitions Photo Archives

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA Archives
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library
200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220-4007
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Roxanne Winfield
Phone: (804) 340-1497
Phone: (804) 340-1495
Restrictions:

Open for Research: The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright, beyond that allowed by fair use, requires the researcher to obtain permission of copyright holders.

Preferred citation:

Records of the Exhibitions Department (PH-03). VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
52 Linear Feet 210 binders
Creator:
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Abstract:
This collection documents the visual history of various VMFA exhibitions for the years 1936-2010, comprising photographic prints, slides, programs, and related ephemera.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Records of the Exhibitions Department (PH-03). VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection documents the visual history of various VMFA exhibitions for the years 1936-2010, comprising photographic prints, slides, programs, and related ephemera.Exhibitions are listed in the scope and contents note for each year.

Biographical / historical:

Since its inception, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has actively supplemented its permanent collections with special exhibitions. Only five years after its opening in 1936, the museum boldly presented an exhibition of Modernist works by artists of the School of Paris from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr.

In the 1950s, VMFA originated notable shows such as Furniture of the Old South (1952), Design of Scandinavia (1954) and Masterpieces of Chinese Art (1955). The 1960s opened with Masterpieces of American Silver and continued with Painting in England, 1700-1850, which drew heavily from the private collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and was at that time the most comprehensive exhibition of British painting ever presented in the United States. In 1967, the museum also mounted a major exhibition of the work of the masterful English social satirist William Hogarth.

In 1978, the museum presented a landmark exhibition on Colonial cabinetmaking in early Virginia, Furniture of Williamsburg and Eastern Virginia, 1710-1790. Another first, and one that received widespread international attention, was the 1983 exhibition Painting in the South: 1564-1980. In 1994 and 1995, the museum exhibited its entire 250-object African art collection in Spirit of the Motherland: African Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This special exhibition was a major element of 3 1/2-year, $1.4-million project funded by a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Museum Collections Accessibility Initiative.

In the fall of 1996, VMFA was one of five major American museums to present Fabergé in America and The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé. These two exhibitions, featuring more than 400 objects and 15 imperial Easter eggs, drew more than 130,000 visitors to Richmond.

In 1999, the museum presented Splendors of Ancient Egypt, an exhibition assembled from the renowned collection of the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany. Nearly a quarter of a million people saw the show in Richmond. It was one of the largest exhibitions of Egyptian art ever to tour the United States.

In 2005, VMFA presented an exhibition of more than 30 fine Impressionist and Realist oils, watercolors and pastels and two sculptures in Capturing Beauty: American Impressionist and Realist Paintings from the McGlothlin Collection. In conjunction with the opening, the McGlothlins announced their plan to bequeath art and give financial support valued at well above $100 million to VMFA.

(Taken from the VMFA's website)

Custodial history:

The collection was transferred from the Exhibitions Department through periodic deposits.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into 43 series, and items are generally arranged chronologically within each series. Items with no date are generally placed at the end at each series.