Category Archives: Exhibitions

In the (NGA) Library: The Evans-Tibbs Archive of African American Art

Selection of ephemera from the Evans-Tibbs Archive of African American Art at the National Gallery of Art Library

The National Gallery of Art Library is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibition, In the Library: The Evans-Tibbs Archive of African American Art, which showcases the life and work of Thurlow Evans Tibbs Jr., an accomplished art appraiser, broker, collector, and dealer, as well as the founder and director of his eponymous art gallery in Washington, D.C. Tibbs is best known for his donation to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, now an important part of the National Gallery’s holdings by African American artists.

The exhibition was organized by Mid-Atlantic members Vada Komistra and Anna Tomlinson. Anna will be presenting her work with the collection at the annual conference in Salt Lake City as part of the session, Better to Receive? : Approaches to Building, Managing, and Promoting Artist Files Collections.

In conjunction with the show, the library is hosting a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon on Saturday, February 23. You can sign up for the edit-a-thon here. The exhibition runs until April 12 and is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The Lillian Thomas Pratt Archives and Fabergé at VMFA

The Lillian Thomas Pratt ArchivesThe Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is happy to announce the launch of its first digital archive, which documents the formation of the museum’s world-renowned Fabergé and Russian decorative arts collection at http://faberge.vmfa.museum/. This project was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence.

Bequeathed to the museum upon her death in 1947, Lillian Thomas Pratt’s Fabergé collection consistently remains one of the highlights of the museum’s permanent collection. In 1917, Pratt married her second husband, John Lee Pratt, a self-made millionaire engineer and businessman with General Motors. She began purchasing her collection of over 500 items, while accompanying her husband on business trips to New York City in the 1930s and 1940s. She eventually bought five of the 52 Russian Imperial Easter Eggs created by the Fabergé firm. Comprised of correspondence, invoices, price tags, and detailed item descriptions, the archive illuminates Pratt’s mind as a collector, as well as the close relationship she formed with New York based art dealers Alexander and Ray Schaffer, owners of the prominent art and antiques gallery A La Vieille Russie.

sc07_02_2_020_v1_tf_201512_o2In all, over 700 items have been digitized, resulting in 1,500 downloadable image files, all of which are available to the public via a new online portal dedicated to digital resources about Fabergé and Russian decorative arts. The website provides access to the digitized Pratt archive, newly filmed videos of the Imperial Easter Eggs opening, new 360° views of the Imperial Easter Eggs, and downloadable resources for educators. The website also links to the new free Fabergé at VMFA mobile application that allows users to explore the collection through five different historical perspectives and design and share a Fabergé mini egg.

Powered by Piction, the museum’s digital asset management system, the launch of the portal coincides with the highly anticipated return of the Fabergé collection, which will be displayed in a new suite of renovated galleries opening to the public on October 22.

Courtney Yevich Tkacz
Archivist
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library
200 N. Boulevard / Richmond, VA 23220-4007
T 804.340.1497 / F 804.340.1431
email: courtney.tkacz@vmfa.museum