Boutelle-Cole, The Voyage of Life: Old Age, 1852, Oil on canvas, 75 x 53 in, Courtesy of the Manoogian Collection
DeWitt Boutelle after Thomas Cole: The Voyage of Life From the Manoogian Collection
September 16, 2017 – January 7, 2018
The suite of four paintings representing an allegory of man’s earthly journey, (Childhood, Youth, Manhood, Old Age) by itinerant painter DeWitt Clinton Boutelle (1820 -1884), bears the unmistakable influence of painters Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Asher Durand (1796-1886). In fact, Boutelle was commissioned to paint the complete full sized copy of the elder artist’s much-celebrated Voyage of Life for sending over to Europe to be engraved in the highest style of modern art. Curiously, artist Thomas Cole’s signature appear inscribed on these artworks alongside Boutelle’s, indicating that the latter was acknowledging the existence of Cole’s hand, however tentative, in the finished paintings.
A Tangled Plot: Works by Annie Blazejack and Geddes Levenson
July 12–October 5, 2025
The Summer 2025 exhibition at the VBMA will showcase 42 paintings and mixed media works by the collaborative duo Annie Blazejack and Geddes Levenson. Blazejack earned her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston at Tufts University, while Levenson received her MFA from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Their work spans various media and reflects their shared focus on the environment and their upbringing in Miami, Florida.
Well-Dressed: Artworks from the Permanent Collection
February 10–September 14, 2025
This thematic permanent exhibition explores the intersection of fashion, identity, performance, and self-expression. It brings together dozens of artworks, some familiar and others rarely on display.