From the Mississippi Delta

Posted by Bruce Miller
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is honoring Murry DePillars, who died Saturday, with a special showing of his 1997 painting From the Mississippi Delta (as seen to the right). Murry was the retired Dean of the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a great friend of artists and arts organizations throughout our community. Our “In Memoriam” to Murry was posted yesterday, and immediately follows this post.

"From the Mississippi Delta is an important work that addresses racial turmoil in Mississippi and throughout the South," says John Ravenal, VMFA’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. The work was inspired by a play by Endesha Ida Mae Holland of Mississippi, a scholar and dramatist. One of her plays (also titled From the Mississippi Delta) reflected her move from poverty and prostitution in the segregated South to civil rights activism and an academic career.

Barksdale Theatre produced the Central Virginia premiere of From the Mississippi Delta in 1998, and the African American Repertory Theatre revived the play earlier this season.

The acrylic-on-canvas work, measuring 42-1/2 by 32-1/2 inches, was a gift to the museum from VMFA’s Friends of African and African-American Art in 2006. The painting went on view when the museum opened yesterday morning.

From the Mississippi Delta reflects Murry’s maternal roots in Gunnison in the Mississippi Delta. DePillars, who was born in Chicago in 1938, was an artist-scholar of international renown who lived in Richmond since 1971.


"DePillars embedded his composition with layers of symbolic and protective imagery. The central figure, a little girl, is waving goodbye to the unsafe place of her birth. The girl’s white dress is a metaphor for the act of removing children from unsafe environments, particularly from Mississippi, which many families fled to escape racial hostility," Ravenal says.

Delta quilt patterns known as “windmills” or “cartwheels” in each corner of the painting are metaphors for moving quickly through life’s underbelly. Other images – silhouetted nudes, serpents, the dress with a purple hem – symbolize and encapsulate the playwright Holland’s own dramatic evolution.

“DePillars’ sensitive treatment of these themes incorporates a palette alternating between vibrant and deep colors, thoughtful use of geometry, and fine brushwork honed over the course of his career,” Ravenal says.

Be sure to stop by the VMFA in the next few weeks, and spend a quiet moment with this vital reminder of Murry DePillars’ immeasurable legacy.

--Bruce Miller

In Memoriam: Murry DePillars

Posted by Bruce Miller
Our friend Murry died last Saturday at his Richmond home. He was only 69 years old, which surprised me. It’s not that he seemed older; he didn’t. Spiritually he was perpetually vibrant and young. But he was such a towering figure in the Richmond arts community, I always imagined that he had to be more than a mere 12 years older than I.

I’m elevating Phil and myself by calling Murry our “friend.” If he thought of us at all in recent years, I’m sure he didn’t honor us with so personal a moniker. It would be more accurate to call Murry a mentor—a mini-mentor perhaps, not one of the ones who made it into our playbill bios, but a mentor nonetheless. More than anyone else, Murry DePillars convinced us that the arts were meant to be populist rather than elitist. He taught us that an artist who elevated himself over his community may not be an artist at all.

After serving as an assistant dean, Murry was promoted to Dean of VCU’s School of the Arts in 1976, one year after Phil and I founded Theatre IV. He held that position for 19 years. During his entire tenure, there was little institutional reason for Murry to take notice of Phil or me. He was a visual artist and a lover of jazz, and we were theatre upstarts with, during most of those years, little influence and even less power in the Richmond arts community.

And yet, from day one, Murry acted like we were worthy of his notice and friendship. He was Dean of the School of the Arts—a huge deal—and yet he willingly and eagerly gave us his attention and respect. And it wasn’t just us. He gave full credence to artists who chose to remain in Richmond, and never made us feel like anyone worth their salt would have moved on to New York. If anything, he made us feel like he awarded extra points to those who chose to grow where they were planted.

When Theatre IV purchased the historic Empire in 1986, Murry was among the few who made it possible.

Here's a brief history. In the mid-70s, a dashing and successful Varina home developer named Mitchell Kambis bought and cosmetically renovated the Empire. After a financially challenging stint as an impresario, Mitchell turned over ownership of the Empire to the mortgage holder, Central Fidelity Bank. The late Carroll Saine, who was Chairman and CEO of CFB at the time, was a close friend of the late Richmond icon Nina Abady. In the early 80s, Nina was a volunteer on the Theatre IV Board, but she was employed as Director of the Virginia Opera Association (VOA) – Richmond Office. Central Fidelity Bank donated the Empire to the VOA, under the condition that they continue to own it for at least two years.

Unfortunately, the Empire was too small for most operas. So as soon as the VOA’s two-year commitment concluded, they sold the Empire to a real estate developer from Roanoke.

In 1986, this developer began to actively seek buyers for the facility. Three parties expressed interest in the building: a Richmond-based developer who planned to convert the building into retail space and condos, Murry DePillars on behalf of VCU’s School of the Arts, and Theatre IV. Obviously, VCU could have outbid Theatre IV (we had no assets to speak of at the time), but the minute Murry learned that we were interested, he called us in for a meeting.

He said that his main interest was in preserving the historic building and keeping it out of the hands of those who wanted to convert it into commercial use. He said that if we were seriously interested, VCU would support us in our efforts to buy the building rather than bid against us. He made suggestions as to where we could go for financial support, and stood by our company until the building was purchased later that year and securely in our hands.

There were no power plays and no conditions—only encouragement and support.

Phil and I have missed Murry DePillars ever since his retirement from VCU in 1995. And we’ll continue to miss him and remember him with the greatest affection and respect. He was a giant in the development of Richmond’s arts community. When Theatre IV produces A Year with Frog and Toad in the Empire next spring, complete with a jazzy score Murry would have loved, we will dedicate the show to the memory of Dr. Murry N. DePillars, our mentor and friend.

--Bruce Miller