Collecting for Me

I started collecting art in 2007 with a large charcoal piece by Erik Gonzalez called "My House and Your House."

I paid $85 for it and it cost me $155 to have it framed (beautifully, I might add; the texture of the frame captures that of the charcoal).

Although I've added another twenty pieces or so since then, it's still one of my favorite pieces. But I'm a mere collecting novice.

When the VMFA opened in 1936, their collection began with a gift of 51 pieces of art from Virginia judge John Barton Payne and I'll bet he never paid $85 for anything in his collection.

The new short-term exhibit, "75 Years of  Collecting for the Commonwealth" pays tribute to Payne and the other generous donors who have continued to enlarge the museum's holdings so that people like me have more to look at...and a reason to go every week of my life.

Three of Barton's original gifts lead off the exhibit and they're all Whistler etchings, a clear demonstration of Barton's wisdom and eye for collecting.

The artist who believed in "art for art's sake" was a supremely talented engraver and the thought of these three as part of the "seed" collection of the museum all but guaranteed that a flourishing museum would grow from there.

Walking through the show, the names of some donors repeat again and again. Sydney and Frances Lewis, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Sydnor, Paul Mellon and, of course, Anonymous.

It's not a very big show, but it certainly demonstrates the range of the VMFA's collection. There are Japanese prints, an Alaskan shark shirt, an Art Deco covered soup tureen, Impressionism and those that came before and after, a 330 B.C. Greek pitcher and a Roman terracotta panel from the first century B.C.

Not to worry, the Americans were well represented too, with the Ashcan school, abstractionism, and the Hudson River School as well American Impressionism.

Because the gallery is just off the atrium and we're ten days from Picasso closing, there were people constantly coming through as they left, but clearly doing so in a half-hearted way ("Oh, look, Ralph, it's a Monet!"), probably due to being worn out by the enormity of the Picasso show.

Which was a shame because for newcomers to the museum, it's a great overview of all the museum has to offer, sort of a Cliff's Notes version, a tease, and it's only there through June.

Come back, Ralph, when you're not so worn out and can take a look at this survey of the museum's highlights. It might inspire you to check out more of the museum than just the blockbuster show.

Ooh, did I say that out  loud?