The Fralin Museum of Art is an art museum at the University of Virginia. Before 2012, it was known as the University of Virginia Art Museum. It occupies the historic Thomas H. Bayly Building on Rugby Road in Charlottesville, Virginia, a short distance from the The Rotunda. The museum's permanent collection consists of nearly 14,000 works; African art, American Indian art, and European and American painting, photography, and works on paper are particularly well represented. The Fralin serves as a teaching museum for academic departments in the university, and serves the community at large with several outreach programs. Admission is free of charge and open to the public.In the spring of 2012, Cynthia and W. Heywood Fralin announced a bequest of their collection of American art to the museum. In honor of their gift and Heywood Fralin's service to the university and to the arts in Virginia, the Board of Visitors voted to name the museum The Fralin Museum of Art.HistoryThe museum was inaugurated in 1935 in a building designed by Edmund S. Campbell, dean of the School of Art and Architecture, who also served as the museum's first director. A modest collection of art was initially housed in the building, with the university's Special Collections Library holding the majority of the university's collections, including significant pieces of decorative art and documents from Thomas Jefferson. The museum closed during the World War II and again during the 1960s, when the School of Architecture requisitioned it for additional classrooms. Subsequently, the museum was reconstituted in 1974 and placed under the Art Department with its Chair, Frederick Hartt, serving as director. David B. Lawall was appointed as curator.
