Fralin Catalog (6-21-23) - Flipbook - Page 10
The collection is particularly notable for its superb examples of
seminal moments in American art — Impressionism of the late 19th
century, Figurative Realism by a group of artists known as The Eight
(commonly known as the Ashcan School) that arose in the early 20th
century, as well as various illustrative styles and regionalist schools
of art active in the United States from the late 19th century up to 1950
and beyond. The collection contains paintings of jewel-like intimacy,
as well as some of the most expansive and grandest examples of
artworks by many well-known and highly celebrated American
painters of the era – from Mary Stevenson Cassatt to John Singer
Sargent; from Winslow Homer to Norman Rockwell; from Georgia
O’Keeffe and Grandma Moses to three generations of Wyeths: N.C.,
Andrew, and Jamie.
In this exhibition, the galleries are arranged to explore aspects of
American life and culture and such developments as advances in
portraiture and representations of individual identity; transformation of
rural and urban environments; the formative concept of the frontier in
westward expansion; the public and the private in interior spaces where
everyday experiences unfold; the seaside and shoreline that historically
influenced and determined so much of social and economic existence;
as well as the always-bustling and ever-expanding realities of the urban
metropolis that emerged to symbolize all that is new and modern in
American life. These thematic explorations and juxtapositions hopefully
open up the richness and variety of the artworks on view.
Cynthia and Heywood Fralin are beloved leaders and members of
our Museum family. The Fralins were among the founding trustees
and champions for the Taubman Museum of Art, which opened in
2008. Their support goes back decades to Heywood’s service as a
trustee, when we were known as the Art Museum of Western Virginia
and housed in Center in the Square, just a couple of blocks from our
current location in downtown Roanoke. Both Cynthia and Heywood
have been instrumental in the Museum’s growth, not only in terms
of facility space, but also in their vision to build a notable collection.
Through management of the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust, the
Fralins have added major works to our collection from such greats
as Thomas Hart Benton, Maria Oakey Dewing, Frederick Childe
Hassam, Robert Henri, George Inness, Norman Rockwell, John Singer
Sargent, John Henry Twachtman, and many others.
Heywood currently serves as Vice Chair and Collections Committee
Chair on the Taubman Museum’s Board of Trustees. Cynthia served
as this year’s Chair of the Museum’s 17th annual Women’s Luncheon.
Both also provide ongoing support to a number of other arts
organizations and endeavors across the state, including the Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and the Fralin Museum of Art at the
University of Virginia in Charlottesville. They were named as “50 for
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