The Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (abbreviated as VCU Arts) is the arts school of Virginia Commonwealth University, a public university in Richmond, Virginia, United States.
The school has 18 bachelor's degree programs and six master's degree programs. Its satellite campus in Doha, Qatar, VCUarts Qatar, offers five bachelor's degrees and one master's degree. It was the first off-site campus to open in Education City by an American university.
Founded in 1928 as a single painting class by artist Theresa Pollak, VCUarts became the official art school of the university in 1933. VCUarts has been ranked in the top four art schools in the United States by U.S. News & World Report since at least 2008.
History Founding (1928–1935) VCUarts was started as part of Richmond Professional Institute (RPI), the historical predecessor to Virginia Commonwealth University, as the "School of Art" in 1928. Initially, the school relied on private donations and the solitary work of its first teacher Theresa Pollak for funding and admissions.
According to Henry Horace "H.H." Hibbs, the first director of RPI, the catalyst for the school's establishment as a formal institute of art and design was an inaugural gift of $1,000 from Colonel A.A. Anderson, a New York portrait-painter, designer, and conservationist.Hibbs, Henry Horace. The History of RPI. Whittet & Shepperson, 1973, p. 37. In 1928, a board of private citizens (later to be known as the RPI Foundation) purchased for $7,500 a disused brick and concrete stable on Shafer Street; earlier that same year, Anderson—who traveled much of his life—purchased 900 acres of land where Richmond International Airport stands today. Hibbs, learning of Anderson's career as a painter and philanthropist, appealed to the Colonel while he was in Richmond by informing him of the board's acquisition of the stable and their intention to convert the loft on the property into the school's first art studio. Immediately interested, Anderson offered his $1,000 gift. Additional contributions by the citizens of Richmond totalling $24,000 allowed the school to open for classes by September.Hibbs, Henry Horace. The History of RPI. Whittet & Shepperson, 1973, p. 37-8.
Two years prior, artist Theresa Pollak had returned to her home in Richmond after four years studying in the New York Art Students' League. Hibbs also approached Pollak, proposing her a position as an hourly drawing and painting teacher. According to Hibbs' History of RPI, her lack of salary pay was allegedly a common practice in music schools of the time.
Restricted by a small working budget, Hibbs explained to Pollak that for her to begin classes, she would have to corral her own students. Before the school's first semester in the fall of 1928, Pollak "was on the telephone every day contacting everyone I knew who evinced even the slightest interest in art"; within the first year, she was able to enroll eight full-time students and nearly 30 on a part-time basis.Hibbs, Henry Horace. The History of RPI. Whittet & Shepperson, 1973, p. 38.
By 1930, the state government was interested in supporting the School of Art as a public institute. The State Board of Education ruled that RPI's art school had become eligible for financial aid from both the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal government, a decision that helped the school gain a foothold in Richmond. The sudden influx of funding allowed the school to expand its curriculum beyond drawing and painting. In addition to what VCUarts today calls the department of painting and printmaking, over the next 17 years the School of Art would add the departments of commercial art (1930–36), interior decoration (1934–36), costume design and fashion (1936), and art education (1947).
The Anderson Gallery of Art In 1931, A.A. Anderson donated an additional $10,000 to the School of Art, which was used to found the Anderson Gallery of Art in a former carriage house behind Lewis Ginter's mansion. From the gallery's first exhibition—a solo show of Anderson's paintings—to its closure in 2015, the Anderson Gallery hosted the work of many contemporary artists who were visiting Richmond.
For five years, the gallery was the only exhibition space in Richmond where modern art could be seen first-hand, until the opening of the VMFA in 1936. That year, RPI decided to convert the Anderson Gallery into a library, which slowed its programming until the gallery's original intentions were obscured. During this time, and for the next 33 years, RPI continued to develop the Anderson Gallery as a multi-use facility, hiring full-time librarian Rosamund McCanless and adding a third-story reading room, a mezzanine, an extended book stack five stories tall, and safety features. However, the library continued to keep a selection of artist's prints, many of which were donated from Hibbs' private collection.Garland, Tracy. "Excavating the Anderson: The Early History of a Building and its Gallery." Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge. School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016, p. 20
Hibbs himself bemoaned the school's many alterations to the space, noting that the changes were made to appease the Southern Association of Colleges, RPI's accreditor.Garland, Tracy. "Excavating the Anderson: The Early History of a Building and its Gallery." Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge. School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016, p. 20–1 Over three decades later, Hibbs took part in reviving the gallery's use as an art space.
Expansion and new leadership (1935–1966) From the 1930s to the 1960s, as RPI itself expanded rapidly, the School of Art sought to organize itself into a formal place of learning rather than a small curriculum of courses. Marion M Junkin joined Theresa Pollak in 1934, and together they ran the school for eight years until Junkin moved to Washington and Lee University.Dabney, Virginius. Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 184 During their joint leadership, students at the School of Art would win about ten scholarships from the New York Art Students' League by 1948.Dabney, Virginius. Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 307-8 In the years before RPI became VCU, the School of Art became one of the largest schools within the institute. By 1941, two photographs from the art school had been published in Life magazine. During the mid-20th century, the leadership of each department within the school would help to shape its character. Raymond Hodges served as chairman of Theatre, founded in 1942; he directed over 100 stage productionsDabney, Virginius. Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 308 and guided the department until his retirement in 1969. The Raymond Hodges Theatre at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts was named for him in 1985.Bonis, Ray, Jodi Koste, and Curtis Lyons. Virginia Commonwealth University. Arcadia Publishing, 2006, p. 57.During her tenure, Pollak was invited eminent New York artists to Richmond for critiques and lectures, such as Kimon Nicolaïdes, Edmund Archer, Edward Rowan, and Harry Sternberg.Pollak, Theresa. An Art School: Some Reminisces. Virginia Commonwealth University, 1969, p. 19 Abstract expressionist Clyfford Still was hired to teach at RPI in 1943. While Still's students and Pollak herself grew to admire the artist and his work, he departed RPI after only two years for unknown reasons. In her writings, Pollak claims that no one in Richmond heard from him again, and that his stay at RPI was omitted from most of his biographical material.Pollak, Theresa. An Art School: Some Reminisces. Virginia Commonwealth University, 1969, p. 45–48
Though Pollak was not enamored with all modern art (she remarked in 1968 that "subjective, expressive painting has become hard, schematic, ugly, or minimal"), she worked to ensure that the School of Art was an active steward of contemporary work. This would occasionally result in backlash from the traditionally conservative Southern community in Richmond. In particular, her school and leadership endured considerable censure by the administration of RPI when sculptor Robert Morris and dancer Yvonne Rainer performed nude at a school art festival.Dabney, Virginius. Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 185
Pollak would step down from head of the school in 1950, though she remained on the faculty in a teaching capacity for 19 years. During this period, the former head would later write, the various departments in the School of Art were disjointed and at odds with one another. Pollak opined that through the 1950s and early '60s, "the last vestige of any sense of unity" had been lost, and doubted that any incoming leadership would be capable of reining in each department into a harmonious and unified institution.Dabney, Virginius. Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 307
Herbert J. Burgart assumed the role of dean in 1966, earning praise from Pollak. Writing in 1969, she said, "He has the ability to see things in the large and thus to organize, while at the same time he is aware of and sensitive to the individual." Burgart received a master's and doctorate in education from Pennsylvania State University, though he did not possess formal training in the arts.
Transition to VCU (1966–1968) By the mid-1960s, many staff and students at Richmond Professional Institute wanted to transition RPI into a full university. The institute had only recently severed ties with William & Mary, which now allowed RPI to offer degrees in the humanities. Coinciding with the implementation of new bachelor's programs in English and history, enrollment spiked at the start of the fall semester in 1965. As the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) already maintained a strong partnership with RPI, in 1966 Governor Mills Godwin recommended the General Assembly form a commission to combine MCV and RPI into a single state university. On July 1, 1968, Virginia Commonwealth University was formed.Dabney, Virginius. Virginia Commonwealth University: A Sesquicentennial History. University Press of Virginia, 1987, p. 222–24
In June 1969, founder Theresa Pollak retired. Under VCU, RPI's "School of Art" became the "School of the Arts," and later "VCUarts." It became accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design in 1973.
Revival of the Anderson Gallery (1969–1976) In 1969, the retired H.H. Hibbs was contacted by head of the department of art history Maurice Bonds about acquiring and resuscitating the Anderson Gallery—which had been a library for over 30 years—for VCUarts. By 1970, the building was officially returned to its original role as an art gallery, and continued to show work by practicing artists until 2015. Its spiritual successor, the Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond (ICA) also known as the "Markel Center at the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art", resumes the gallery's role as a space for contemporary art. The Anderson Gallery's collection of over 3,100 works of art is now housed at VCU's Cabell Library. In 2016, the gallery reopened under the name "The Anderson," which now exclusively exhibits BFA and MFA student programming.