VAN GOGH, LICHTENSTEIN AND WHISTLER ON DISPLAY AT PIEDMONT ARTS

Beginning this week, the Piedmont Arts galleries will feature the exhibit Van Gogh, Lichtenstein, Whistler: Masterpieces of World Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, an exhibition commemorating both the 75th anniversary of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the 50th anniversary of Piedmont Arts. Supported by Altria Group, the specially curated exhibition is open to the public from July 23 – October 1, 2011. Admission to the Piedmont Arts galleries is always free of charge.

The exhibition features over 20 works by artistic masters from around the world, including Post-Impressionistic icon Vincent Van Gogh, American impressionist James Abbot McNeil Whistler, pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and contemporary photographer Sally Mann, as well as works from the museum's African, Asian and Ancients collections.

"This is a truly fascinating exhibit," said Bernadette Moore, director of marketing and public relations at Piedmont Arts. "The VMFA has included works that serve as a vivid snapshot of their overall collection. It is certainly an unusual delight to have such masterworks on display in a city the size of ours."

In addition to the exhibit of VMFA masterworks, Piedmont Arts will also display a collection of tobacco-themed paintings, on loan from the Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Collection features works from the American Regionalism movement, prominent in the 1930s and 1940s, which depict various aspects of the harvesting, hanging and selling of tobacco. The works were donated to the university by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and are permanently housed at Reynolds Homestead in Critz, Virginia. These works can be viewed in Piedmont Arts' Lynwood Artists gallery from July 23 – October 1, 2011.

Also on display: Lynwood Artists will host a special retrospective exhibit in the Frith Performance Hall. This exhibit celebrates the long history that Piedmont Arts shares with Lynwood Artists and features work by many original Lynwood Artists as well as members who have provided years of service to both organizations.

Images (top - bottom): Vincent Van Gogh, “The Wheat Field behind St. Paul's Hospital,” St. Rémy, 1889 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon)

Cosmo de Salvo, Untitled (Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.)