{"id":2129135,"date":"2026-09-04T18:19:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2129135"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:19:43","slug":"virginia-museum-of-fine-arts-vmfa-announces-recent-acquisitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2129135","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) Announces Recent Acquisitions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\tThe Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has announced a group of recent acquisitions across all ten of its curatorial departments. In the past year, the MFA reports, it has purchased 808 works of art and received 2,506 gifts from more than 50 donors, including the donation of 1,989 photographs by the Joy of Giving Something, Inc.<\/p>\n
\n\tComprising both contemporary and historical artworks, new additions to the museum\u2019s holdings range from a 2025 wall relief by Vietnamese-born artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen to an 1865 silver print by French photographer Nadar. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn addition to supporting artists throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia through its fellowship program, the museum acquired works by, among other Virginia natives, Ben Durham, Kevin Jerome Everson, Michelle Gagliano, Emmet Gowin, Virginia Granbery, Allyson Gray, Rebecca Hill, Susan Iverson, Aimee Joyaux, Adam Pendleton, Glenn Scarboro, and Rippling Water\/Christine Custalow.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis remarkable roster of purchases and gifts demonstrates our ongoing commitment to expanding the museum\u2019s holdings and enhancing accessibility to art,\u201d said VMFA director Alex Nyerges. \u201cMany of the newly acquired works will be shown in the new wing and renovated galleries after the completion of our transformative expansion project.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThese acquisitions affirm VMFA\u2019s commitment to collecting artists that reshape the canon, expand the narratives of art history, and create points of connection for new audiences,\u201d said chief curator Michael Taylor. \u201cOver the past year the museum\u2019s 17 curators have researched and acquired a wonderful array of artworks that reflect artistic innovation, storytelling, beauty and creativity in our region and across the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBelow, a look at five artworks newly acquired by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n
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Paul Signac, The Haystack<\/em>, 1882<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Collection of VMFA. \t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tAn early canvas by French painter Paul Signac (1863\u20131935), The Haystack<\/em> illustrates the artist\u2019s synthesis of Impressionism and early Post-Impressionism. Although haystacks as a subject are most often associated with the Impressionist painter Claude Monet, he did not in fact begin painting them until after he was introduced to Signac\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Theresa Bernstein, Sun, Sand, and Sea<\/em>, 1916<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Collection of VMFA.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tDepicting a Gloucester, Massachusetts, beach crowded with tourists, this painting by Polish American artist Theresa Bernstein (1890\u20132002) reflects the influence of Ashcan painters like Robert Henri and John Sloan. Bernstein, who lived to be 112, remained committed to realism her entire life, specializing in figural groups such as this one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Roberto Lugo, Roundel with Boy from the Hood<\/em> from the \u201cDellaRobske\u201d Series, 2023<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Collection of VMFA. Photo: Troy Wilkinson, copyright \u00a9 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tFor his \u201cDella Robske\u201d series of glazed stoneware pieces, Philadelphia-born ceramicist and social activist Robert Lugo (b. 1981) drew inspiration from the commemorative ceramic roundels made by the della Robbia family in 15th-century Florence. In this piece, a youthful Ice Cube wears a hat emblazoned with the word \u201cCompton,\u201d a reference to his rap group N.W.A.\u2019s album Straight Outta Compton<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Making Medicine: Coyote (Going Forward, Looking Back)<\/em>, 2024\u201325<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Collection VMFA. Photo by Troy Wilkinson, copyright \u00a9 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tIn this bronze sculpture by renowned Native American artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940\u20132025), a coyote, the trickster of tribal myth, stands atop a canoe piled with cast plastic refuse, including water bottles and Styrofoam cups. Despite its reference to environmental harm, the work\u2019s title also suggests that the planet might be healed through the traditional Indigenous understanding of the land as a living relative. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Scars<\/em>, 2025<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Collection of VMFA. Photo: Troy Wilkinson, copyright \u00a9 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tThis tondo by Vietnamese-born artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen (b. 1976) is made of flattened brass artillery shell casings. Conjuring the scales of a dragon, a protective animal in Vietnamese mythology, the work reflects on the U.S. military\u2019s involvement in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/The-Haystack-copy.jpg?w=1024″] The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has announced a group of recent acquisitions across all ten of its curatorial departments. In the past year, the MFA reports, it has purchased 808 works of art and received 2,506 gifts from more than 50 donors, including the donation of 1,989 photographs by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2129135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2129135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2129135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2129135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2129135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/The-Haystack-copy-1.jpg?w=400\")
![\"Theresa](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Sun-Sand-and-Sea-copy-1.jpg?w=400\")
![\"Roberto](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Roundel-with-Boy-from-the-Hood-copy.jpg?w=400\")
![\"Jaune](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Making-Medicine-Coyote-Going-Forward-Looking-Back-copy.jpg?w=400\")
![\"Tuan](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Scars-copy.jpg?w=400\")