Our very own Elaine Bankston's work of art, a portrait of late civil rights lawyer icon Oliver W. Hill, and Mr. Hill's historic account have been featured in FiftyPlus for Black History Month.
"When the Virginia Museum of History and Culture completes its renovations next year, it will display a significant new work in the collection: a portrait of Oliver Hill — a Richmonder who was a trailblazer in the civil rights movement.
'The portrait of Hill fills a major gap in the VMHC collection,' William Rasmussen, senior museum collections curator and Lora M. Robins Curator of Art, said in a statement.
Midlothian artist Elaine Bankston, 70, donated the work to the museum in November.
'[Hill] allowed Elaine to sit down with him, make portrait studies, and get to know him. Thus, she could produce what art historians call a ‘life portrait’ — a portrait that carries us as close to the sitter as we will ever get,' Rasmussen said."
