DETAILS

The artist Edward Beyer came to the U.S. from Germany after the Revolution of 1848. For several years Beyer, a graduate of the Düsseldorf Academy, traveled around the northeastern US and Ohio, sketching, painting oil landscapes, and exhibiting a moving panorama. In the mid-1850s he traveled to Virginia, where he made panoramic oils in the western part of the state. For a number of towns Beyer’s view remains the best single historical representation. In 1857-58 he produced Album of Virginia, a portfolio of 41 lithographic views. In the Album, especially, Beyer’s vision was that of a European liberal who saw the world as a Jeffersonian idealist. Jeffrey Ruggles is an historian and photographer with interests in the history of American culture, Virginia, and visual art. His book The Unboxing of Henry Brown (Library of Va., 2003) is a biography of the fugitive slave and performer Henry Box Brown. From 2002–10 Mr. Ruggles worked at Virginia Historical Society where he served as Curator of Prints and Photographs. His Photography in Virginia (2008) is a companion book to a 2008–09 exhibition at VHS. Other VHS exhibitions were Early Images of Virginia Indians (2003) and Organized Labor in Virginia (2010), and a long-term installation at Battle Abbey, The Virginia Manufactory of Arms (2005-15). Mr. Ruggles has degrees from the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University, and is an administrator at the Virginia Center on Aging at VCU in Richmond. Having trouble signing up for a ticket? We may be sold out. Please fill out the waitlist form found on this event’s main page or visit bathcountyarts.org/events to join the waitlist. If you have any issues with your reservation, please email director@bathcountyarts.org