VMFA on the Road: Artmobile exhibition coming to Blue Ridge Community College

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is taking their show on the road – literally – with an artmobile.

“VMFA on the Road: An Artmobile for the 21st Century” is kicking off 2022 with a new exhibition – “Revealing and Obscuring Identity: Portraits from the Permanent Collection” – with paintings, photographs and prints from the museum’s permanent collection exploring portraiture through a variety of periods, cultures and styles.

The artmobile will make a stop at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave on Aug. 25 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The exhibition is part of the Welcome Week activities kicking off the fall semester at BRCC.

“In addition to welcoming visitors to our Richmond campus, where they can enjoy our collections and educational programming 365 days a year, the museum is committed to making art accessible to all Virginians,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s Director and CEO. “We encourage everyone to see this insightful new exhibition of portraiture when VMFA on the Road visits a location near them.”

Viewers of “Revealing and Obscuring Identity: Portraits from the Permanent Collection” will experience the shift that occurred in portraiture over the decades.

“Traditional portraiture typically glorifies the sitter, idealizing the subject’s appearance and stature within the context of stylized presentation, symbolism and careful composition. Expressionist portraiture is different in that the works distort reality to evoke mood and emotion,” said Jeffrey Allison, VMFA’s director of statewide programs and exhibitions and Paul Mellon Collection educator. “This VMFA on the Road exhibition considers how the sitter’s identity is portrayed — whether through attributes like race, occupation or status — and reveals the artist’s own core identity through works of art.”

Diverse works by more than 10 artists including Kitagawa Utamaro (Japan), Gordon Stettinius (American), André L’Hote (French) and S. Ross Browne (American) are featured in the exhibition.

Admission to the exhibition is free, and the public is invited to attend.