RICHMOND, VA.- American art collectors James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin plan to bequeath art and give financial support valued at well above $100 million to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Dr. Michael Brand, VMFA’s director, made the announcement in Richmond today, calling the McGlothlins “among the nation’s leading collectors of American art.”

“We have spent the last decade immersed in the world of American art, never suspecting early on that our desire to learn and appreciate this legacy could result in so meaningful a commitment to Virginia,” says James McGlothlin, who is the chairman and CEO of the United Company of Bristol [Va.], a conglomerate involved in financial services, oil and gas, industrial supply distribution and golf courses.

“Fran and I envision a long and creative relationship with the museum’s leadership, which in recent years has shown a tremendous level of artistic initiative,” he says.

The McGlothlins, who are originally from Virginia and are now residing in Austin, Texas, have promised the museum 19th- and 20th-century oil paintings, watercolors, pastels and sculptures that together “represent one of the most important American art collections still in private hands,” Dr. Brand says. Frances McGlothlin is a VMFA trustee.

Included in their bequest will be works by such well-known American artists as George Bellows, Mary Cassatt, Martin Johnson Heade, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler. The pledge includes funding for an endowment to accompany the art, which will support research, conservation, exhibitions and possibly some acquisitions.


Brand says the McGlothlins’ “extraordinarily generous donation will significantly elevate the quality and scope of the museum’s holdings” as the institution prepares for the 2008 unveiling of its expansion and renovations designed by London-based American architect Rick Mather in partnership with Richmond-based SMBW. A light-filled new wing will be a significant part of the transformed 13½-acre campus.

As a component of their pledge, James and Frances McGlothlin together with the United Company of Bristol have made a leading donation of $10 million toward the capital campaign in support of the expansion. The couple’s commitment - the largest to date for the building project - will support the creation of the American Galleries in the new wing. The American Galleries and the wing will both be named for the McGlothlins.

Altogether, the museum’s expansion and renovation will add a total of 100,000 square feet for the display of VMFA’s permanent collection of world art and for special exhibitions, an educational center, and enhanced visitor amenities, as well as a dramatic public atrium with a glass wall that, when viewed from the street, will visually connect three levels of the museum.

“This is an historic moment for VMFA,” says Charlotte Minor, president of the museum’s board of trustees. “To date, our capital campaign has exceeded expectations, raising more than $152 million for the campaign’s four components: building, endowment, special art acquisitions, and annual fund. Fran and Jim’s incredibly farsighted gifts provide still more incentive and inspiration as we go on to raise the remaining $10 million needed to reach our building goal for expansion and renovations. “

The Eastern corridor of the United States has long been a veritable pilgrimage route for those wishing to see and study American art, with most of the country’s preeminent museum collections now held in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg. “With this gift, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will become another essential stop at the southern end of this cultural corridor, deepening the story of American art for those wanting to experience the finest works produced by American hands and minds,” Dr. Brand says.

“This gift of art will blend seamlessly with our current collection, and at the same time it raises our holdings to a new level,” says Dr. David Park Curry, curator of American arts at VMFA. “Unlike many museums, VMFA, which was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, has acquired a number of its most iconic pictures - such as Edward Hopper’s “House at Dusk” (1935) - as contemporary art. With this bequest VMFA’s American art collection becomes wonderfully representative of nearly four centuries - from early American art to modern masters.

The late 19th- and early 20th-century additions are all connected by the sensibilities of these two collectors. “Just last year, one of … the finest private collections of American art was dispersed at auction. The McGlothlins’ bequest is a welcome example of the opposite phenomenon, when private collectors exercise their own taste for the enrichment of the common weal,” Dr. Curry says.

VMFA visitors will be able to examine 33 fine Impressionist and Realist oils, watercolors and pastels and two sculptures from May 19 to Sept. 18 in an exhibition titled Capturing Beauty: American Impressionist and Realist Paintings from the McGlothlin Collection. Appealing Impressionist works by Cassatt, Sargent and Childe Hassam will join with powerful Realist pictures by Homer, Bellows and Robert Henri. Unexpected gems - a seductive sketch by William Merritt Chase, a subtle seascape by Whistler, an evocative interior by William McGregor Paxton - will add luster to the exhibition. One of the most important paintings to be on view, Martin Heade’s Two Magnolias and a Bud on Teal Velvet (1890), has already received widespread public attention: Found in a Wisconsin tag sale for $20, the painting fetched nearly a million dollars at auction in 2000 before eventually being purchased by Mr. and Mrs. McGlothlin.