Maier opens summer exhibits
By Jon Busdeker on Jun. 14, 2007
The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College invites the public to visit two newly installed summer exhibitions, “The Art of Money: Selected Works from the Collection of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System” and “A Room with a View: Selections from the Permanent Collection.” Both will hang through Aug. 26.
“The Art of Money” was organized by museum staff in conjunction with this year’s statewide focus on Virginia history, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. The installation features paintings and prints by 20th-century artists such as Sam Gilliam, Robert Motherwell and Ellsworth Kelly.
The Federal Reserve Board has maintained an art collection, known as the Fine Arts Program, since 1975. A 1971 directive from President Nixon requested that government departments “determine ways by which (they) could more vigorously assist the arts and, in turn, how arts might be used to enhance their programs.” Over the years, the Fed’s art collection has been built with the support of private individuals and from a percentage of new construction costs. The Fine Arts Program has an active schedule of exhibitions (which can be visited by appointment) at the board’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, continues to collect actively, and regularly publishes catalogs featuring the collection.
Lynchburg native Carter Glass was instrumental in the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Glass, whose family home currently serves as an administrative building on the campus of Liberty University, served as a reporter for the Lynchburg News in his 20s. He became the newspaper’s editor in 1887 and bought the company in 1888. He was elected to the Virginia senate in 1899 and then to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1902. In 1913, he was appointed chair of the House Committee on Banking and Currency. It was in that capacity that he worked closely with President Wilson on banking reform, resulting in the establishment of the Federal Reserve System. He would serve as Wilson’s Secretary of the Treasury from 1918 to 1920. In 1920 Glass was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy and served in the Senate until his death.
“People don’t ordinarily associate the Federal Reserve with art collecting, but the staff there — aided by an advisory panel of nationally-known art experts — has developed quite a lovely survey of American painting, prints and sculpture,” said Maier director Karol Lawson in a news release. “The Fine Arts Program’s recently retired director, Mary Ann Goley, was very helpful in planning this loaned exhibition. Any loan exhibition is really the result of a number of professionals working together to coordinate details. Even a relatively small show requires considerable preparation and planning.”
Lawson notes, too, that one of the Fed’s art panel members, art collector and philanthropist Susan Cabot of Boston, is an alumna of R-MWC and serves on the Maier’s advisory board.
“A Room with a View” comprises 23 paintings, prints and photographs from the museum’s permanent collection that feature landscape views — from “cloudscapes” and retro diners to cozy farm scenes and rougher urban vistas. Among the artists included are Rockwell Kent, Eric Sloane, Rackstraw Downes, Andrew and Jamie Wyeth, and Grandma Moses.
“We thought the selection would be a soothing one, and most welcome in the heat of summer,” Lawson said.
In addition to these special installations, the museum will offer its free Tour of the Month series throughout the summer. These informal walking tours of the permanent collection galleries take place at 2 p.m. the first Sunday of each month. No reservations are required.
The Maier Museum of Art’s summer hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and admission to the galleries is free. Docent-led tours for groups of children or adults can be arranged free of charge. To plan a group tour, call the museum office at 947-8136.
Visit the Maier Museum of Art online at http://maiermuseum.rmwc.edu/events.asp.
COMMENTS
Hi my name is Michelle Power and I am the camp director for the YMCA and I would like to bring my children there for the summer to tour or whatever else you have to offer. Thank you.