Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
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The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or ‘’’VMFA’’’ is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia. It is one of the first museums in the American South to be operated by state funds.
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[edit] History
The VMFA has its origins in a 1919 donation of 50 paintings to the state of Virginia by Judge and prominent Virginian John Barton Payne. Payne, in collaboration with Virginia Governor John Garland Pollard and the Federal Works Projects Administration secured the funding to augment state funding for the museum. The museum opened in 1936 on Richmond's "The Boulevard".
In 1947, the VMFA received a significant donation of the Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of jeweled objects by Peter Carl Fabergé as well as the T. Catesby Jones Collection of Modern Art. Further donations in the 1950’s came from Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams and from Arthur and Margaret Glasgow.
[edit] Exhibits
VMFA has made further acquisitions with endowments provided by many private donors. The museum has assembled a wide-ranging collection of world art characterized by great breadth and exceptional aesthetic quality. It includes significant holdings of Classical and African art; paintings by European masters such as Poussin, Goya, Delacroix and Monet, and American masters such as John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer; one of the world's leading collections of Indian and Himalayan art; an internationally important collection of fine English silver; unequaled holdings of Art Nouveau and Art Deco furniture, ceramics, glass and jewelry; a dynamic collection of Modern and Contemporary art; a popular collection of Fabergé imperial jeweled objects; and noted holdings of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, including original waxes and bronzes by Edgar Degas.
[edit] Expansion
In 2003, a year after its selection of London-based architect Rick Mather, VMFA unveiled a master plan for a $100-million building expansion and transformation of its 13½-acre campus. The expansion is expected to be completed in 2008.
In 2000, Art scholar Michael Brand became the director of the VMFA. In August 2005, he accepted a position in J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.
