American paintings--an exhibition and gift.(Current and coming)

Works of art in the marketplace end up either on the walls of institutions, where they are accessible to the public, or tucked away in private collections sometimes to be shared with a wider audience during loan exhibitions. The latter is the case with some thirty American impressionist and realist oils, watercolors, pastels, and two bronze sculptures from the collection of James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin. These works are on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond until September 18 in a show entitled Capturing Beauty: American Impressionist and Realist Paintings from the McGlothlin Collection.

At the opening of the exhibition on May 16 the director of the museum, Michael Brand, announced that the McGlothlins have decided to bequeath their holdings to the museum. An unusual aspect of this arrangement is that the museums curator of American art will work with the McGlothlins in the coming years to refine their collection, which currently includes more than one hundred works by artists of the Hudson River school through the early twentieth century. When the collection eventually comes to the museum it will presumably contain works that fill gaps or add strength to the institution's already considerable collection of American art. In addition to this generous gift, the couple has pledged $10 million in support of the American art galleries in the museum's new building, designed by Rick Mather and scheduled to be completed in 2008. The elastic nature of this gift is a museum curator's dream come true.

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The McGlothlins are native Virginians who now reside primarily in Austin, Texas. They also have other properties, among them one in Bristol, Virginia, which is the location of Mr. McGlothlin's firm, United Company, a conglomerate whose holdings include financial services, oil and gas, the distribution of ...