Eldridge Bagley began painting fifty years ago while he was still living with his parents on their farm in rural Lunenburg County, Virginia. Bagley often depicts the substance and meaning of a vanishing small-town and agrarian lifestyle. Relationships with family, friends, neighbors, religion, and the land are important themes in this retrospective exhibition.

“I can’t live in the past,” Bagley told a news writer, “but I do know . . .that there are traditions, convictions, and values that never change and are worth preserving.” He never set out to be a historian, but his audience recognized intuitively that “history is a genre of memory.” His artistic journey over the course of the past fifty years affirms that he is truly a historian of the heart.

Opening Reception: December 9, 2022 5:30 to 8 p.m. with Early Entry for Friends & Partners at 5 p.m.

Reflections of the Heart: Eldridge Bagley – 50 Years of Painting is made possible by our sponsors, Brad Watson and Davenport & Co., Farmville. LCVA exhibitions and programs are made possible through the generous support of the Wells Fargo Foundation, the Walter J. Payne Foundation, Anne Carter & Walter R. Robins, Jr. Foundation, Walmart, Navona & David Hart, Century 21 Realty @ Home, Helton House, Haley Auto Mall, Candice Jamison Dowdy ’69 & Charles H. Dowdy III + Northwestern Mutual, Hotel Weyanoke, Lisa & Tim Tharpe, Rock Foundation, Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond, Harriet Butterworth Miller ’51, Joni Beachly + Ironworks Financial, YakAttack, Peachtree House Foundation, Wilma Register Sharp ’66 & Marc B. Sharp, and the Rock Foundation.