Expanded Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to Open May 1, 2010

"Peacock Vase," 1899, Louis Comfort Tiffany. Photo Corning Museum of Glass

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond (www.vmfa.museum) is putting the final touches on a large-scale expansion that will add some 165,000 square feet to its pre-existing 380,000 square foot building, placing it among the top ten comprehensive art museums in the United States. After almost five years of construction, the museum will celebrate its re-opening May 1.

Tiffany: Color and Light, one of the most significant exhibitions ever mounted of works by the master of American glass, Louis Comfort Tiffany, will debut at VMFA May 29. Richmond is the only city in the United States to host the exhibition. Now in Paris at the Musée du Luxembourg, Tiffany: Color and Light will be on view at VMFA through August 15.

Conceived by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and organized in collaboration with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée du Luxembourg, Tiffany: Color and Light celebrates the work of the renowned designer who achieved original and spectacular effects in hand-blown glass vessels, leaded glass windows and lamps. VMFA lent fourteen important works to the exhibition.

Visitors to the expanded VMFA will be captivated by the triple-height Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Atrium, a "main street" that will connect the new building to VMFA’s two existing wings and open onto a library, museum shop, café, and galleries. A forty-foot-high glass wall overlooking the Boulevard will signal the purpose of the museum from the outside by showcasing works of art and revealing public activity within. The three-and-a-half-acre E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden will partially cover an innovative parking deck tucked beneath a terraced, landscaped slope designed for recreation and viewing outdoor performances.

The special-exhibition galleries in the new James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Wing will allow VMFA to accommodate almost any traveling show. The Tiffany exhibition will inaugurate the new space and is among a series of major international exhibitions coming to VMFA.

Read about more art museums in Virginia by visiting www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/serendipity/pti-20100102/index.php?startid=54 .