RICHMOND, VA.- Seventeenth-Century Dutch Landscapes: Museum Studies Seminar is on view from March 31 to May 15, 2015, at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. The exhibition features twenty-one prints and one painting by seventeenth-century Dutch artists. The works were selected from the University Museums’ Harnett Print Study Center collection, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and private collections.

The Dutch Golden Age is explored through Dutch landscapes created in the 1600s, highlights include a painting from the VMFA by Salomon van Ruysdael (16021670), prints by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (16061669), Roelant Roghman (1627-1692), Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682), Esaias van de Velde (1587-1630), Jan van de Velde II (1593-1641), Anthonie Waterloo (1610-1690), and two prints after Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610) by Hendrik Goudt (1583-1648) and Magdelena de Passe (1600-1638), among others.

The Museum Studies Seminar is an undergraduate course in the Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond, designed to teach students about the history and functions of museums. As the curatorial team, students Kelsey Barrett, Selena Barrios-Pietri, Ellie Iverson, and Jenny Kacani researched the artwork, wrote the exhibition text, and designed the exhibition’s layout. The education team of Andrew Olmstead and Paige Schaefer created programs and activities to complement the exhibition’s themes in an effective and engaging way. The marketing team of Clara Axner, Katherine Pierce, Sarah Restivo, and Allison Siegel developed strategies to raise public awareness, interest, and attendance. Under the supervision of Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, and with assistance from the University Museums staff, the students will present the exhibition and related programs throughout the remainder of the spring semester.

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums and part of the Tucker-Boatwright Festival of Literature and the Arts (hosted by the Department of Art and Art History in collaboration with University Museums), the exhibition was curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, and on the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History, with students enrolled in the Museum Studies Seminar.

Also on view is Sense of Place: Landscapes from the Permanent Collection from March 22 to May 15, 2015, at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. Selected from the permanent collection of the University Museums, the exhibition features more than one hundred landscapes in various media, dating from the 1600s to the present.

The exhibition features primarily landscapes by European and American artists, with several additional Asian works, and the pieces have been loosely arranged by time period with unexpected juxtapositions that encourage close observation and reflection. Created throughout the past five centuries, landscape continues to be a powerful and provocative subject matter in art. Highlights of the exhibition include: the series of etchings Views of the Villa of Pratolino in Florence by Stefano della Bella (Italian, 1610-1664), Le Petit Parc, an etching by Jean-Honore Fragonard (French, 1732-1806), two etchings from Francisco de Goya’s (Spanish, 1746-1828) series The Disasters of War, a folding screen Inscription for My Humble Home (1851) by Samejima Hakkaku (Japanese, 1774-1859), several prints by Julius J. Lankes (American, 1884-1960), and Chris Ofili’s (British, born 1968), Grey Bathers, from the series Rincon Falls, Trinidad. Artists have used, and continue to use, the elements of nature to establish a sense of place in their landscape images.

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums and curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, the exhibition is made possible in part with support from the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund.