Arts

The project’s architect was the London-based firm Rick Mather + SNBW Architects. It was picked partly because the company has considerable experience with museum expansions and public building design, although this was the first American commission for the American-born Rick Mather. A working museum is hugely complicated because it incorporates so many different types of space and functions almost like a miniature city. There are exhibition galleries, of course, but also business offices, libraries, restaurants and cafés, bars, kitchens, mechanical plants, parking decks, retail shops, classrooms, storage spaces, gardens, meeting rooms, theaters, conservation laboratories and workshops, each with its own design paradigm. “The Virginia Museum is fairly unique in belonging to the Commonwealth of Virginia,” says Mather, “but for any public building, it should be clear that it’s not a private club. Everything about the design—the building, entrances, plaza, sculpture garden—has been organized to create an invitation to enter the site.”

John E. Buchanan Jr., director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, has maintained a steady interest in the Virginia Museum since his friendship with the late Leslie Cheek, who was the VMFA director from 1948-1968. Buchanan’s two art museums recently completed major expansions, so he speaks with the voice of experience when he says that the new addition in Richmond will allow the Virginia Museum to “enlarge its circle of family and friends and lay the foundation for the next generation of art supporters.” He is enthusiastic about Rick Mather’s design, which he has seen in the construction phase, and looks forward to a repeat visit this spring. “The plans could not have been any better,” says Buchanan. “They provide an appropriate showcase, a home that steps up to the quality and significance of the art collection. Alex and the trustees and staff have a marvelous vision to reach broadly and deeply into the population of Virginia and the Eastern seaboard, inviting people into the museum in ways that were not possible before.”

As Yount, the curator of American art, puts it, the Virginia Museum is “a genuinely democratic space, and free to all. It is an extraordinary legacy that ultimately belongs to all Virginians. Many people are going to be surprised when they see the treasures on view in their own backyard.”

Art museums have been fighting the elitist image for decades. On May 1, the Virginia Museum hopes to banish the impression forever with its engaging exhibits, inviting atmosphere and captivating new space. Says architect Rick Mather, “The message is, ‘Welcome, please come in.’” Many, many visitors are expected to accept the implied invitation—and do just that.