April Art 2022

Whistler to Cassatt Opens April 16 at VMFA

The highly anticipated Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts opens April 16 and runs through the last day of July. This exhibition focuses on a group of aspiring artists who, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, left the United States to train abroad, then returned home to become some of the greatest influencers to shape American art.

“Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France provides a vivid account of late 19th-century France and the cutting-edge opportunities offered to expatriate artists at that time,'' says Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s director and CEO. “Visitors to the exhibition will see exquisite paintings by some of this country’s foremost artists, created during one of the most complex and transformative periods in American art history.”

Organized by the Denver Art Museum and curated for the VMFA by Dr. Susan J. Rawles and Elizabeth

Locke, Whistler to Cassatt will include more than 100 works by celebrated American artists including James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Mary Cassatt, who traveled to France between 1855 and 1913 as part of the first wave of expatriate artists to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. 

“In an era fraught with challenges, Frank Benson’s painting, Sunlight, seems like an uplifting metaphor for America,” Dr. Rawles says. “A young woman stands high on the horizon under the bright light of a clear day. Peering out across an ocean separating the old world from the new, she braces against adverse winds, yet stands strong. Despite all the tension and discomfort that has accompanied America’s growing pains — both physical and philosophical — her youth and spirit signal optimism.”

VMFA 

200 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard 

Richmond, VA 23220

New Works by Mark Pehanich at Eric Schindler Gallery

Mark Pehanich: New Paintings and Prints will be on display at Eric Schindler Gallery through April 29. “Line, shape and color illustrate the intuitive in my work,” says Mark Pehanich. “Images are extracted from small line drawings. which are gestural and free-form at times, and geometric and formal at others.” 

Eric Schindler Gallery

2305 East Broad Street

Richmond, VA

April Art Exhibits at the Main Richmond Public Library

The Gellman Room features “Windows to the Soul—the Eyes Project”. This powerful exhibit, somewhat COVID-inspired, focuses on the windows to the soul, and the results are inspiring, particularly when coupled with Susan’s interviews with the her subjects. Consider the interview with John Jones. When Susan asked him, “What’s it like being you?”, he responded, “Frustrating. Yeah. Think about it—this is just to be honest. African-American man, six- foot-two, almost two hundred pounds. Most people see me—they get the wrong impression. I’m not always smiling. Don’t get me wrong, I interact with people, which is lovely, but when a lot of people see me, they try to avoid me. It gets extremely frustrating.”

In the Dooley Foyer, “New Abstractions for 2022”, new abstract acrylic paintings by Danny Trent.

In Dooley Hall experience original artwork “Indian Memories Reimagined”—photographs taken  in India reimagined through collage by Elizabeth Gorn. 

On the 2nd Floor Gallery you’ll find “Rethinking the Ordinary”, enclosed and freestanding work by Sebastian Jackson.

All exhibits run through April 30.  

Richmond Public Library

101 E. Franklin Street

Richmond, VA 23219