Browse Exhibits (39 total)
Portraits from the Golden Age of Jazz: Photographs by William P. Gottlieb
Portraits from the Golden Age of Jazz features a collection of black and white photographs of jazz musicians by William P. Gottlieb. During the 1930s and 1940s, Gottlieb photographed the contemporary jazz scene for The Washington Post and Down Beat magazine. His incisive portraits evoke the essence of the era and capture unforgettable images of jazz greats such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, and many others.
CENSORED: Wielding the Red Pen
Books, films, music, and works of art have been suppressed, altered, expurgated, bleeped, blackened, cut, burned, or bowdlerized. Writers and artists have been imprisoned, fined, fired, or silenced. Wearing many masks, censorship has appeared in our living rooms under the names "national security," "classification," and "selective inclusion." Books have been removed from shelves or never been published at all. Artistic visions have been circumscribed or lost. Scientific and official state documents, positing objectivity, have not remained immune from the red pen. Cloaked in the voice of authority, they have advanced particular viewpoints and biases to the extent that other voices have been silenced. In a context where the Bible has been censored, dictionaries edited, and histories rewritten, we have all been affected on a daily level. Even in the new millennium, we confront the censorship debate. On computer screens throughout the world, questions regarding access to information on the Internet are defining the next battleground for the debate about freedom of speech.
This exhibition hopes not so much to judge censors and censorship but instead to provoke questions. Every day some form of censorship occurs in the United States. This prevalence of the red pen in a country founded on the Bill of Rights suggests that most people consider some things or ideas too dangerous or offensive to be made widely available. Is there a line in the sand? And if so, where do you stand? Where are your limits of tolerance? As you move through the exhibition, we invite you to consider whether or not there are restrictions which you might impose on the First Amendment. Are there situations in which you might support the suppression of materials or ideas? Note, also, the silence which accompanies your journey through the exhibition, a poignant reminder of the voices suppressed through the ages.
From Village to Grounds: Architecture after Jefferson at the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia has presented the same challenge to many eminent architects: how does one build on a masterpiece? As the University has grown, Jefferson's architectural ideals have been tried and tested, adapted and interpreted. This exhibition explores the wide range of solutions to the architectural and planning problems posed by adding to a growing university. From the picturesque of the 19th century, to the classicism of McKim, Mead & White, to the modernism of the 20th and 21st centuries, architecture at the University of Virginia reflects national trends and responds to Jefferson's unique vision.