Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont will host the exhibition “Belmont Through a Lens: Photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston” from Saturday, March 27 through Wednesday, June 20.
The exhibition features 18 historic images of Belmont and runs concurrently with the Fredericksburg Area Museum’s general survey of Johnston’s work, “History Through a Lens: The Photographs of Frances Benjamin Johnston.”
One of the first American female photojournalists, Johnston focused on celebrity portraiture, documentary work, estates and gardens and vernacular architecture of the American South.
In 1927, Johnston was granted private local funding to produce a photographic survey of important early buildings, private residences and gardens of the City of Fredericksburg and Stafford County, Va., including Gari Melchers Home and Studio. Those images were publicly displayed in May 1929 in Fredericksburg’s Town Hall.
Regular admission fees to Gari Melchers Home and Studio are $10 for adults and $5 for students; however, visitors to either Melchers or the Fredericksburg Area museum may present their admission ticket at the other site to receive discounted entry.
Gari Melchers Home and Studio is a 28-acre estate and former residence of the artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne. The property, which is operated by the University of Mary Washington, is both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark.
Located at 224 Washington St. in Falmouth, Va., a quarter mile west of the intersection of U.S. 1 and U.S. 17, it is open daily with an admission charge. The museum also serves as the official Stafford County Visitor Center. For directions and other information, call (540) 654-1015 or visit the museum website at www.GariMelchers.org.