Fifty works of art in English silver have been given to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) by collector Rita R. Gans of New York, significantly elevating the stature of VMFA’s collection.
VMFA Director Alex Nyerges called it “the most important and fabulous gift of English silver in memory in many years to any museum in the world.
“This additional gift, when united with the 102 works of art already in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Jerome and Rita Gans collection of English silver, means the collection is arguably the best of its kind in America. When the new gift is installed, the gallery will be the most important of its kind on view in the United States,” Nyerges said.
The silver in the latest Gans gift ranges in date from 1440 to 1845. The largest portion is from the Georgian period, when London’s silversmiths led Europe in skill and innovation.
Gans’ earlier gifts †in 1997, 2001 and 2006 †established VMFA as a prime destination for serious scholars of British silver in America.
After the death in 1996 of her husband, Gans announced that she would not continue to collect, but she quickly relented. Her gift this year of an outstanding group of objects, which she purchased between 1997 and 2009, brings a new depth to the collection, Nyerges said.
“When the Ganses first began to collect in the 1970s, they were drawn to very bold, sculptural silver,” said Ellenor Alcorn, VMFA’s consulting curator for the Gans collection.
“They bought dynamic works that were a departure from the more staid tastes of traditional American collectors. More recently, Rita became interested in silver with a very refined, sophisticated sensibility. The objects made for the great collector and impresario William Beckford, for example, have the delicate features of jewels. They are historically important, but also very intimate, personal objects that reflect Rita’s passion for collecting.”
VMFA will open a new gallery devoted to the Gans collection in September.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is at 200 North Boulevard. For information, www.vmfa.museum or 804-340-1400.
