RICHMOND, VA.- The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts announced today its receipt of 1,124 photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Inc. (JGS), a nonprofit organization committed to advancing the art and accessibility of photography through support for residencies, museums, educational institutions and community-based organizations. This recent gift to VMFA features work by more than 25 photographers and includes 26 bodies of work created between the 19th century and the present day.
“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is thrilled to receive this extraordinary gift of photographs,” said Alex Nyerges, Director and CEO. “This extensive and wide-ranging body of works donated by Joy of Giving Something to the museum is transformative, as it deepens and broadens our photography collection and opens new avenues for research, collecting and exhibition development.”
The photographs are drawn from the extensive holdings assembled by financier Howard Stein (1927–2011), who began to collect photography in the 1980s and amassed one of the most significant collections of historic, modern and contemporary photography in the United States. Among the highlights are 27 photographs by conceptual artist Robert Heinecken, 125 photographs by renowned photographer Mark Steinmetz that chronicle the American South over the last 30 years, Larry Clark’s portfolio Tulsa (1980), Paul Strand’s classic Mexico portfolio and a 19th-century album by French photographer Charles Nègre that documents one of Napoléon III's building and social projects. Other significant gifts include 102 photographs by Joseph Mills from his Washington D.C. series Inner City and strong holdings of work by 20th-century and contemporary artists, including Walter Chappell, Tim Davis, Chris Enos, Hans Eijkelboom, Harry Gruyaert, Todd Hido, David Maisel, Tanya Marcuse, Doug and Mike Starn,
Untitled from the series Inner City, 1980s, Joseph Mills (American, born 1951), gelatin silver print with applied varnish. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, © Joseph Mills
John Szarkowski and Catherine Wagner.
“One of the extraordinary aspects of this gift is that it enables VMFA to explore the work of so many talented photographers in significant depth and allows us to delve into a variety of practices, from 19th-century architectural photography to documentary practice to contemporary conceptual projects. Because the gift includes large holdings and even entire series by these artists, we have the opportunity to dig deep into individual practices and projects,” said Dr. Sarah Kennel, Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper at VMFA. “Together, these wonderful works will strengthen our ability to present the rich history of photography in focused ways and augment opportunities for programming in the museum’s planned photography galleries, which are part of VMFA’s upcoming expansion.”
In addition to expanding the museum’s holdings overall, several groups of newly gifted photographs directly complement other works in VMFA’s permanent art collection. Made between 1983 and approximately 1989, 42 photographs from Ira Nowinski's project The Studio of Man Ray, which sensitively documented the expatriate American artist’s creative space, details many of the objects that appear in VMFA’s extensive collection of photographic portraits made by Man Ray in Paris between the two world wars. Focused on memory, family and everyday life, 60 photographs by American photographer Raymond Meeks that form his series The Sound of Summer Running build on the museum’s strong holdings of domestic, intimate photographs made in the South by artists like Emmet Gowin and Sally Mann. Work from Mark Steinmetz’s series South Central and South East, as well as Debbie Fleming Caffery’s photographs made in New Orleans’ 9th Ward in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, also broaden VMFA’s compilation of photography made in and about the American South.
This expansive collection of works mirrors the visionary practices of JGS founder, Howard Stein. Among the most important photography collectors of the past 50 years, Stein enthusiastically embraced the diversity and creativity of the photographic medium, qualities that are reflected in this important gift to VMFA.
