THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF AN AMERICAN PORTRAITIST
View new acquisitions, rare materials, and fine portrait work by an early 20th century American artist in the Hermitage collection.
Opening Party: Thursday, February 7, 6-9pm
Purchase tickets here
Academically trained in Europe, Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk (1856-1935) was a respected figural portraitist, muralist, and arts educator of the late nineteenth through early twentieth centuries. He was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1856. His mother was a relative of presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas and his father was a well-known American sculptor. Throughout his life, Douglas Volk established himself as a leader in art instruction and as a painter of American themes, particularly historical subjects, as well as a portrait artist who completed many private commissions. He enjoyed a successful career from the 1890s through the early 1920s. But for many artists like Volk who adhered to the traditional academic philosophies of art rather than embracing the modern, avant-garde styles that emerged, he fell into relative obscurity after his death in 1935. However, with renewed attention to American academic paintings, his life’s work has been the subject of recent scholarship and interest.
At the Hermitage, Volk’s significance is connected to the beginning of the museum’s American fine art collection. The artist was a close, personal friend of the Sloane family, especially Florence K. Sloane. Because of their friendship over the decades, the Hermitage Museum boasts one of the single largest collections of the artist’s work. Sloane’s friendship with Volk also led to friendships and connections with other nationally-acclaimed artists of her day such as Helen M. Turner, Karl von Rydingsvärd, George de Forest Brush, and many others of Volk’s circle. Together with the Sloanes, Volk was also involved in the development of the art community in Norfolk during its earliest years.
This rediscovery of Volk’s significance to the Hermitage collection was prompted by the recent acquisition of drawings by Volk in 2018, made possible in part through the Lela M. Hine Trust.
The Hermitage is extremely proud to present an exhibition dedicated to the life and legacy of this foremost American artist in our art collection. The volume of Volk paintings from the museum’s permanent collection together with rarely seen archival materials reinforce the little-known story of a unique, intimate friendship that the Sloanes maintained with Volk. This exhibit emphasizes that theirs was more than a patron-artist relationship; rather, a warm, genuine friendship that lasted nearly 20 years.
On view through May 12
Exhibition support from Weinstein Properties
