As a reference librarian at an art museum, I work with a lot of patrons who have inherited or otherwise acquired a piece of art, the artist of which they wish to know more about. In the best-case scenarios, I am able to cobble together a biography using auction records, newspaper archives, and records such as the Benezit Dictionary of Artists. However, the unfortunate truth of the matter is that we have forgotten so many of our artists. Even if a work is legibly signed, it can be difficult or impossible to track down information about the artist. As a result, the longer I am in this job, the more I come to value the artist files we hold—specifically the Virginia Artist Files.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts opened in 1936, and within its first year had taken over the running of an annual exhibition of Virginia artists from the Richmond Academy of Arts (shortly thereafter to be held biennially). The museum also held a biennial exhibition of work by American artists, and any works by
Virginia artists which made it into that wider exhibition were promised a one-person show at the museum (“Exhibitions by Six Virginia Artists,” Richmond Times-Dispatch Sunday Magazine, Oct. 2, 1938, 70). The first of these was in 1938, showcasing Anna Mercer Dunlop. The Virginia Artists Show as well as the Virginia Artist Series of individual exhibitions form the backbone of our Virginia Artist Files.
Each of these exhibitions were enthusiastically reported on by newspapers, both in Richmond and in the artist’s hometown. The Virginia Artist Series catalogs each included a lengthy biography of the artist—invaluable to us now, when so many have otherwise been forgotten. Additionally, of the 28 shows in the Virginia Artist Series which the museum held between 1938 and 1946, 13 of them were devoted to women. That’s an unbelievable percentage, when today women still struggle to find gallery representation compared to men (Shaw, 2019).
Dunlop, Anna Mercer, Virginia Artist Files, VF-03, VMFA Archives, Richmond, Virginia.
After the “Virginia Artist Series” came to a close, the museum continues to put on exhibitions of work by Virginia artists—some solo, some in small groups—through the 1970s. Outside of these exhibitions, it wouldn’t be until 1979 that a woman was featured in a solo show without the caveat of being a Virginia artist (“Loie Fuller: Magician of Light”). All the Virginia artists featured during that time have files in our archives, an invaluable resource for information about Virginia artists of the mid-twentieth century.
Another important museum institution which forms the foundation of the Virginia Artist Files was the Loan-Own Gallery, which was announced in 1949, following that year’s Virginia Artists biennial (“Take It Home,” The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Members’ Bulletin 9, no. 6 (March 1949)). The museum selected 20 artworks from the show to form a loan library, from which museum members could borrow a piece for four months at a time. After the loan period, the member was given the option to either return the work or purchase it. Beginning in 1961, the museum allowed non-members to borrow works of art as well (Moore, 1961). The program ended in 1983.
Artists who participated in the Loan-Own program usually provided their address and a brief curriculum vitae. That may sound like a thin amount of information, but compared to the artists about whom I can find no trace, simply having an address can be a revelation. Another benefit of the Loan-Own Gallery and the records we have from it is that often works which were rented or sold by it retain their identifying card. At least once a year, someone finds one such work at an antique shop or estate sale and reaches out to learn more. Being able to connect those works with the Virginia artists in our archive is a joy, and one of the best parts of my job.
The Virginia Artist Files number around 2800, which is surely a small fraction of the total number of artists who have and still do live and work in the Commonwealth. While the museum used to have a team of volunteers dedicated to the upkeep of our Vertical Files, in the years since the COVID lockdown, it’s a task which has fallen by the wayside. My goal is to make the Virginia Artist Files a priority again, both in updating the contents of the existing files as well as adding to the files on the whole.
Door Williams is the Reference Librarian at the Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts