WILLIE ANNE WRIGHT

Willie Anne Wright began painting in the mid-1940s as a psychology student at William & Mary. After receiving an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University (then Richmond Polytechnic Institute) Wright’s talent quickly gained recognition; her paintings were exhibited widely throughout the early 1970s. In 1972, Wright underwent a significant shift in her artistic focus, transitioning primarily to photography. What initially began as a means to document her paintings evolved into a long artistic pursuit. Her paintings offer a diverse exploration of contemporary themes and motifs that often reappear decades later within her photographs. She delved into experimental photographic processes, including photograms, lumens, and lensless pinhole photography, often employing long exposures with hand-built cameras. 

Conjuring the Composition offers a curated selection of Wright's paintings, ranging from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, alongside related camera works from as recently as 2016. Wright's transformative journey, from canvas to camera, offers viewers a glimpse into the mystical world of an artist whose work encompasses a wide range of subjects and references. In Willie's worlds combined, vibrant swimming pools, pregnant muses, and pop culture icons exist equally among art history references, haunting ruins, lush gardens, and elaborate still life tableaux.

Wright’s stunning brush works and introspective photographs showcase an artistic evolution of over nearly eight decades of artist output. Conjuring the Composition will open on Friday, November 3rd, and remain on view through the New Year.

Willie Anne Wright holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. She also studied photography at the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport, Maine, as well as the Visual Studies Workshops in Rochester, New York.

Among the institutions that have acquired her photography are the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia; Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, Virginia; Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, Florida; High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama; Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia; University of Maine, Bangor, Maine; University of Mary Washington, Fredricksburg, Virginia; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia; and the New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico.