The holidays are a great time to get together with family and friends at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), and this season the museum is offering special combination tickets to see two critically acclaimed photography exhibitions, Ansel Adams: Compositions in Nature and Man Ray: The Paris Years. Now through January 2, 2022, visitors purchasing tickets to both exhibitions online or at the museum will receive 40 percent off — a savings of up to $10 per person depending on the ticket type.
“As the only art museum in the United States open 365 days a year with free general admission, we want the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to be a place of beauty, inspiration, respite and celebration for our visitors throughout the year, including the holidays,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s Director and CEO. “We hope all of our visitors will take advantage of this unique ticket combination and see these exhibitions showcasing two of America’s most influential photographers while enjoying time with loved ones this holiday season.”
Ansel Adams: Compositions in Nature features iconic landscape images and rarely seen early photographs by the renowned artist and environmental conservationist whose work advanced photography as an art form. Through Ansel Adams’ use of light and shadow and emphasis on visual details, textures and patterns, his works evoke an emotional response and a greater appreciation of nature from its viewers. With breathtaking vistas, beguiling details and inimitable style, this exhibition explores the importance Adams placed on the splendor of natural environments that may have been overlooked by an ordinary passerby.
Man Ray: The Paris Years focuses on the innovative portrait photographs that the American artist made in the French capital between 1921 and 1940. In the early decades of the twentieth century Paris became famous the world over as a powerful and evocative symbol of artistic freedom and daring experimentation, which accounts for the extraordinary migration there of a large number of artists, architects, composers, dancers, fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and writers. Shortly after his arrival in July 1921, Man Ray (the pseudonym of Emmanuel Radnitzky) embarked on a sustained campaign to document the international avant-garde in Paris in a series of remarkable portraits that established his reputation as one of the leading photographers of his era. The exhibition includes more than 100 portraits of such cultural luminaries as Berenice Abbott, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Lee Miller, Pablo Picasso, Ruby Richards, Wallis Simpson and Gertrude Stein. Man Ray’s portraits went beyond recording the mere outward appearance of the person depicted and aimed instead to capture the essence of his sitters as creative individuals, as well as the collective character of Les Années folles (the crazy years) of Paris between the two world wars.
For more information about exhibitions now on view and to make plans to visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, visit www.VMFA.museum.
Ticket Information
Regularly priced tickets for the exhibition Ansel Adams: Compositions in Nature are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors 65+, youth 7–17 and college students with ID. Tickets to see Man Ray: The Paris Years are $16 for adults, $12 for seniors 65+, and $10 for youth 7–17 and college students with ID. Both exhibitions are free for VMFA members, children ages 6 and under, as well as Commonwealth of Virginia employees and preschool and K–12 teachers (public and private). These special exhibitions are also free to active-duty military and their immediate families.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, is one of the largest comprehensive art museums in the United States. VMFA, which opened in 1936, is a state agency and privately endowed educational institution. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret art, and to encourage the study of the arts. Through the Office of Statewide Partnerships program, the museum offers curated exhibitions, arts-related audiovisual programs, symposia, lectures, conferences, and workshops by visual and performing artists. In addition to presenting a wide array of special exhibitions, the museum provides visitors with the opportunity to experience a global collection of art that spans more than 6,000 years. VMFA’s permanent holdings encompass nearly 50,000 artworks, including the largest public collection of Fabergé outside of Russia, the finest collection of Art Nouveau outside of Paris, and one of the nation’s finest collections of American art. VMFA is also home to important collections of Chinese art, English silver, and French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, British sporting, and modern and contemporary art, as well as renowned South Asian, Himalayan, and African art. In May 2010, VMFA opened its doors to the public after a transformative expansion, the largest in its history.
The museum has undertaken an exciting $190 million expansion and renovation, anticipated to be complete in late 2025. International architectural firm SmithGroup is charged with designing a 105,000-square-foot wing for contemporary art, African art, photography, special exhibitions and events; a new 40,000-square-foot collections center to accommodate an expanded conservation department and collections storage; and 45,000 square feet of renovations to the museum’s 1936 building, 1970 building and Leslie Cheek Theater.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is the only art museum in the United States open 365 days a year with free general admission. For additional information, telephone 804.340.1400 or visit VMFA.museum.
