Exhibitions

May 22 - Sep 6, 2021 | Altria and New Market Galleries, Level LL

Curated by VMFA’s Valerie Cassel Oliver, this groundbreaking exhibition reveals aesthetic traditions of the African American South and their influences on art, music, and other forms of cultural expression over the last 100 years. Contemporary art and art created by those not academically trained converge with music in a relevant and culturally rich study that includes paintings, sculpture, assemblage, and collage, as well as the personal possessions of music icons.

$12 Adults
$10 Seniors 65+, Youth (7-17) & Students with ID
VMFA Members & children 6 & under FREE

Members Only Preview | Thu & Fri, May 20 & 21 | Altria and New Market Galleries, Level LL

Curated by VMFA’s Valerie Cassel Oliver, this groundbreaking exhibition reveals aesthetic traditions of the African American South and their influences on art, music, and other forms of cultural expression over the last 100 years. Contemporary art and art created by those not academically trained converge with music in a relevant and culturally rich study that includes paintings, sculpture, assemblage, and collage, as well as the personal possessions of music icons.

VMFA Members FREE

Members Only | Wednesdays, 5pm - 9pm | Altria and New Market Galleries, Level LL

Beginning May 26, Enjoy a series of special evenings that provide VMFA members the opportunity to view The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse on a night of members-only access to the exhibition. Single-cardholder members may reserve one free guest ticket each week, and dual-cardholder members may reserve two free guest tickets to the exhibition.

The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, investigates the aesthetic impulses of early 20th-century Black culture that have proved ubiquitous to the southern region of the United States. The exhibition chronicles the pervasive sonic and visual parallels that have served to shape the contemporary landscape, and looks deeply into the frameworks of landscape, religion, and the Black body—deep meditative repositories of thought and expression.

VMFA Members FREE