The University of Virginia Art Museum exhibits art from around the world dating ancient times to the present. In addition to its permanent collection, the Museum offers changing exhibitions exhibitions, accompanied by related programs and publications.
Highlights by area
The Art Museum maintains a collection of more than 10,000 objects including American and European art from the 15th century to the present; ancient Mediterranean art; Asian art from ancient times to the 21st century; and collections of pre-Columbian, Native American, African, and Oceanic art.
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American, 18th-21st centuries
The “Age of Jefferson” collection includes paintings by Angelica Kauffmann, Benjamin West, and John Singleton Copley. The Museum has major holdings in 19th and 20th century American art, ranging from Frederic Church's Natural Bridge, Virginia and realist paintings and sculpture by Alfred Leslie, Jack Beal, and John D'Andrea to the Buzz Miller/Alan Groh Collection of more than 100 works mostly from the Stable Gallery in New York, representing Joan Mitchell, Andy Warhol, and Isamu Noguchi. New gifts of boxes and collages by Joseph Cornell bring the Cornell collection to 20 works.
A small but fine collection of 17th century Dutch painting includes portraits, genre scenes, and landscapes by Bacher, Van Leyden, and others. Italian, French and British artists include Tiziano Aspetti, Bartolo di Fredi, Giovanni Battista Lombardi, and Auguste Rodin.
The museum began collecting photography in 1980 and has since amassed a
collection of over 1000 images ranging in date from 1878 to the present. Artists in the collection include Eugene Atget, Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, Frederic Sommer, Sally Mann, and Shelby Lee Adams. Also represented are New York scene photographers Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Roy De Carava and Diane Arbus. The collection holds extensive bodies of work by three artists: Sam Abell, renowned National Geographic photographer, documentary photographer David Plowden, and landscape photographer William Wylie.
American - Artists represented include John Baldessari, Kenneth Hayes Miller, Alison Saar, and Kara Walker.
European - Considered the most outstanding in scope and quality, the collection of Old Master prints, includes major works by Rembrandt and Dürer, among many others.
The African collection spans the continent. The Native American collection includes the Astor collection (ceramics, metalwork, clothing, kachinas, period photographs), acquired by New York's Astor Hotel in the early 20th century and donated by Lady Nancy Astor to the University in the 1930s. The collection also includes 58 Navajo textiles that complement a strong Southwest collection of baskets, silver, and ceramics. The Oceanic collection is primarily representative of Papua New Guinea work, pre- and post-contact. Also represented are works from the Asmat region of Irian Jaya. The pre-Columbian collection—more than 2,700 pieces—is wide ranging.
The Museum's collection of ancient art includes an Attic black-figure krater, a Roman marble togate figure, and a Roman stone stela. In 2004 we added a ca. 5th-6th century Roman floor mosaic to the collection through a generous gift. Almost 500 ancient Greek and Roman coins have been acquired through University Curriculum Support Funds.
The East and South Asian collections include ceramics, sculpture, paintings, and prints from ancient times to the present [21st century]. Especially strong are Japanese woodblock prints and South Asian miniature paintings. Other important works include a bronze Siva sculpture, two Nepalese sculptures, and Chinese and Japanese scrolls. Recently, a major mixed-media work by Kwang-Young Chun, a contemporary Korean artist, was added to the collection.
China
Japan
Korea
India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet
