Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (Photo: David Stover/VMFA)
Join decorative arts specialist Erin Kuykendall for a visit to Richmond’s famed Museum District, a day of guided in-depth tours of historical collections and art exhibitions, including stops at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the American Civil War Museum.
On the way south, Kuykendall offers a brief history of these storied institutions and their important and expanding cultural impact on the city today. The visit begins at Virginia Museum of History & Culture, on Richmond’s historic street, The Boulevard. View collections highlights featured in The Story of Virginia, followed by a curatorial tour of the WWI centennial exhibition Virginia and the Great War.
At the adjacent Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the group joins curators for a detailed look at American art from the colonial to contemporary, including the renowned Sydney and Francis Lewis collection of art nouveau and art deco jewelry, furniture, and decorative arts. The afternoon includes time to view the sumptuous international loan exhibition Napoleon and his Splendor, with rare works from the Château de Fontainebleau, the Louvre, and the Musée de l’Armée in Paris. Enjoy a special lunch in Marble Hall of the museum.
At the American Civil War Museum, explore the conflict and its legacies from multiple perspectives—Union and Confederate, enslaved and free African Americans, soldiers and civilians, and men and women—in exhibits at Historic Tredegar Iron Works.
Kuykendall is a faculty member and incoming director of the GW Corcoran–Smithsonian Master’s Program in Decorative Arts and Design History.
Fringe stop at about 8:25 a.m.
The tour involves considerable walking, standing, and some stairs.
