- Open today, 10 am to 5 pm.
- Parking & Directions
- Free Admission
April 3, 2024
2024 Spring Arts Preview
The Chrysler Museum of Art is proud to announce its Spring Arts Preview.
Fantastic Creatures of the Venetian Lagoon: Glass 1875–1915
Giuseppe Barovier (Italian, 1853–1942) for Salviati Dott. Antonio (Italian, 1877 – 1890) or Artisti Barovier (Italian, 1884 – 1919), Granzioli Dragon Compote, ca. 1877-1914, Blown and applied glass, Gift of Marjorie Reed Gordon, 2022.21.55
On View February 23, 2024–August 18, 2024
Located in the Glass Projects Space
Visitors can gaze upon dragons, dolphins, seahorses, pegasi, swans, and serpents as they creep around vase necks, twine up goblet stems, and perch atop bowl rims. At the turn of the twentieth century, Venetian glassmakers adorned blown glass vessels with fabulous beasts sculpted from hot glass and dusted with gold, dazzling the senses. This rare collection of 50 glass wonders attest to both their makers’ imagination and virtuosity and represent a stunning revival of the Venetian glass industry. When glassmaking in Venice reemerged in the 1860s after a half-century of depression, an atmosphere of creativity and friendly competition arose among Venetian glass companies, including firms like Artisti Barovier, Fratelli Toso, and Salviati & C. This exhibition is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art and is possible thanks to a generous gift of glass from Mrs. Marjorie Reed Gordon. Gordon donated 80 works of glass from her personal collection to the Museum in 2022.
This exhibition is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art.
Hampton Boyer: Colors of Us
Hampton Boyer and Matthew E. White, Only in America (2022, HD video sound, 17:33) © Hampton Boyer and Matthew E. White
On View April 4, 2024–October 27, 2024
Located in the Box
Local artist, Hampton Boyer, showcases his bold colors and complex textures across painting, collage, and drawing and shown in the short film. As an innovative, self-taught artist Boyer has exhibited locally and internationally, developing his singular style using bold colors and complex textures across painting, collage, and drawing. Pure color is used in dramatic effect in the short film Only in America, marking Boyer’s directorial debut.
In collaboration with recording artist Matthew E. White, the two Virginia-based artists explore police brutality and the complexities of systemic racism. Composed into five movements, Only in America’s soundtrack is written and produced by White, while its lyrics and vocals feature visual and performing artist Lonnie Holley and the Atlanta-based gospel choir arranger Joseph “JoJo” Clarke. It also features director of photography Stephen Miles. In the exhibition, a selection of Boyer’s two-dimensional works, in dialogue with the video, elicits an emotional response that calls into question how color goes beyond perception to embody unjust structures in our society.
This exhibition is organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art.
I Am Copying Nobody: The Art and Political Cartoons of Akinola Lasekan
Akinola Lasekan, Abike, ca. 1940s. Pastel on paper, Hampton University Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 67.470. Photo: Alexander’s Photography
On View April 13, 2024–August 11, 2024
Located in the Frank Photography Gallery
In 2021, The Chrysler Museum of Art, in partnership with the Hampton University Museum, was awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which aims to Diversify the Field of Curation and Conservation by conducting a three-year pilot fellowship program for two museum professionals. The fellows will work under the mentorship of both institutions to curate two public exhibitions, originate a small catalog, and prioritize and conserve a group of objects from the collections.
The exhibit features more than 50 drawings, paintings, and political cartoons created by Akinola Lasekan, a pioneer of modern art and political cartoons in Nigeria. Lasekan’s artworks capture Nigeria’s landscape, people, culture, and political climate in the 1940s and 50s. Lasekan’s 38-year art career brimmed with beauty, innovation, and advocacy. He utilized easel painting to express the beauty and humanity of Nigeria and its people while simultaneously attacking the British colonial system with nationalistic political cartoons. His mastery and use of these Western art forms contradicted the narrative of European superiority and African inferiority.
This exhibition is co-organized by the Hampton University Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art with support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (b. 1957), New Climate Landscape (Northwest Coast Climate Change), 2019, Acrylic on canvas, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, purchase BMO Financial Group, 2020.10, Image courtesy of Sarah Macaulay & Co. Fine Art
On view May 24, 2024–September 1, 2024
Located in the Special Exhibition Galleries
Early Days is the first survey of Canadian Indigenous art to be presented internationally. Organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in collaboration with current Indigenous stakeholders—scholars, traditional knowledge keepers, and living artists—the exhibition includes both historic and contemporary art from coast-to-coast.
Showcasing the diversity and vitality of Indigenous art in Canada, Early Days features objects ranging from 18th -century ceremonial regalia, to the work of the vanguard artists of the 60s, 70s and 80s such as Norval Morrisseau, Carl Beam and Alex Janvier as well as leading contemporary Indigenous artists like Kent Monkman, Meryl McMaster and Rebecca Belmore. As the only museum in Canada devoted exclusively to Canadian art, the McMichael’s collection offers a definitive account of Indigenous art in Canada today, and the powerful tensions and continuities that exist between the present and the past. Early Days explores our relationship to the land, to our ancestors, and to each other.
Early Days is organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and The Museum Box.
IDEAL, Intentional Designs of Expression in Artistic Languages
Norfolk Artists/Educators.
Artwork by Norfolk Public School Teachers on display in the Margaret Shepherd Ray Student and Family Gallery.
October – December, 2022.
On view May 7, 2024–June 9, 2024
Located in the Margaret Shepherd Ray Student and Family Gallery
GalleryGuided by Arts for Learning’s professional teaching artists, fifth-grade students to explore themes of patterns, identity, and community through music, poetry, and visual art. Collaboration is a central feature of the IDEAL project, with students teaming up with peers at their own school and across school divisions.This exhibition is in partnership with Arts for Learning, Norfolk Public Schools, Portsmouth Public Schools, and Virginia Beach City Public Schools.