University of Virginia Art Museum Extends Exhibit on 'Speed'

July 8, 2008 — The University of Virginia Art Museum will extend its special exhibition, "Speed," through Aug. 3. Drawn from the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, "Speed" explores artists' use of "motion" in their work. Featured in the exhibition are a variety of pieces, ranging from paintings to sculpture and mobiles. In addition to exploring the ability to literally depict or more subtly convey speed and motion in a particular work, the exhibition also examines the dialogue between an artist's intention and the viewer's perceptions, such as whether an artist intended a brush stroke to give the appearance of being made slowly or quickly.

Among the works featured in the exhibition are James E. Butterworth's 19th-century painting, "A Racing Yacht on the Great South Bay," Virginia native Stephen Fox's 1990 painting "Roadside," "An Idealized View of Vesuvius from Possillipo, with Tower, Seen by Moonlight" by Joseph Wright of Derby and an 18th-century Tibetan "Dakini" sculpture made of bronze with gold leaf.

"Speed" is part of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' special "Look Here" series highlighting its own collections and making them accessible to all Virginians. Since the series' start in 2006, more than 75,000 Virginians — from Abingdon to Fredericksburg and from Norfolk to Winchester — have experienced a "Look Here" exhibition in their community.

The "Look Here" exhibitions are sponsored by SunTrust with support from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Additional support was provided by the Richard S. Reynolds Foundation, the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Exhibition Endowment, the Fabergé Ball Endowment, the Fabergé Society, and The Council of VMFA. At the University of Virginia the exhibition is supported by the Sanford J. Miller Family Trust and Arts$.

Next year, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the U.Va. Art Museum will present "Matisse, Picasso and Art in Paris." This exhibition, scheduled to open in March 2009 in Charlottesville, and organized by both institutions, will offer a window onto modern art of the 1920s and 1930s and focus on the School of Paris and its major figures, including Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Raoul Dufy, Juan Gris, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso. Artworks to be featured have been drawn from The T. Catesby Jones Collections held by both the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the University of Virginia.

Admission to the University of Virginia Art Museum is free. The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m. each day. Parking is available on Bayly Drive off Rugby Road, or in the Central Grounds Parking Garage on Emmet Street.

For information call 434-924-3592 or visit the museum Web site at www.virginia.edu/artmuseum.

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