Week 10 Assignment 3: Cultural Activity Report
John Smith Dr. Justyna Japola-DesVergnes
HUM 112
September 6, 2015

For the Week 10, Assignment 3, I chose to attend the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, located in the “Museum District” of Richmond, Virginia. The museum was opened on January 16, 1936, which was during the great depression. I attended the museum with my Fiancé on September 5, 2015 and was the first time attending, for the both of us. It is currently open 365 days a year, and offers free admission other than to any of the special exhibits. Upon researching different museums and events to attend in the area, I decided that this museum would be most appropriate because it has a very extensive American art collection, housing items from the late 17th through the mid-20th century. It is currently hosting the exhibition Spotlight Loan: Eastman Johnson’s Views of Mount Vernon, which I found to be the highlight of my trip.
In the text, I noted that there are numerous paintings by Eastman Johnson, an American painter, as well. One that particularly stood out to me was Negro Life in the South, 1959. The painting was of his father’s household slaves in Washington, DC. The slaves were portrayed as content, while playing music, dancing and conversing outside of their quarters. While some saw them as cheerful, abolitionists noted the crumbling architecture of the quarters in comparison to the house beside them, and also their tattered clothing (Sayre, 2015, p.967).
In contrast, the paintings by Eastman Johnson that I chose to highlight did not “romanticize” slavery as Negro Life in the South did. These oil paintings were of failing structures at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and the slave occupants. Washington’s Kitchen, Mt. Vernon, 1864, is a painting of an enslaved woman sitting in front of the fire with her children. The room they are in is dark other than the fire, which creates a very gloomy feeling, and the walls appear to be decomposing around them. The Old Mount Vernon, 1857, shows a view of the slave quarters behind the Mansion. There is a small overpass that connects the slave quarters to the mansion itself. There is a slave sitting in the doorway of the quarters, and others in the overpass. The fence and walls surrounding the quarters are dilapidated, and clearly not well kept.
In conclusion of our visit, we thoroughly enjoyed the day overall and our only complaint is that we wish we had more time. The museum was well laid out and very easy to navigate and the staff were all very knowledgeable, polite and helpful. Prior to leaving to head back home, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the “Best Café”, which overlooks a reflecting pool and the Robins Sculpture Garden. We plan on returning to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the near future as there were many aspects that we did not have time to focus on.

References
Sayre, H. M. (2015). The humanities: Culture, continuity and change, Volume 2 (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education