The Fabulous 50s: Our Founding Decade VIP Party

Oct 10, 2026 – 6:30 pm – 11:00 pm

Cocktails. Culture. And little mid-century glamour.

The Taubman Museum of Art was founded in 1951—so as we celebrate our 75th anniversary, we’re going back to where it all began.

Slip into something fabulous and step inside The Fabulous 50’s: Our Founding Decade VIP Party, an elevated 1950s cocktail experience taking place on the Museum’s private 3rd floor during the Opening Celebration for American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection.

Think classic cocktails, Americana-inspired bites, live music, and plenty of mid-century style—all while enjoying an extraordinary first look at American Made before it opens to the public.

And because you’re a VIP, you’ll experience the night a little differently.

Enjoy a full bar and Americana-inspired small plates in the private VIP space. Then head into the galleries for one of the evening’s most exclusive experiences: a private, small-group guided tour of American Made with the exhibition curators and organizers.

Your VIP ticket also gives you access to everything happening throughout Through the Decades: Glowback Party. Wander the Museum as it travels through the eras represented in American Made, with entertainment, music and performances, interactive experiences, food trucks, neon-inspired décor, and a silent disco in the Theater.

Then retreat to the VIP party whenever you’re ready for another cocktail.

Your VIP experience includes:

Full Bar
Raise a glass to 75 years with cocktails, wine, beer, and more.

Americana Small Plates
Enjoy elevated bites inspired by classic American flavors.

Private Curator Tour
Experience American Made before its public opening with an intimate guided gallery tour led by exhibition curators and organizers.

Music + Performances
Settle into the sounds and style of the Museum’s founding decade—and explore entertainment inspired by other eras throughout the larger Opening Celebration.

Red Carpet Photo Ops
Because if you’re dressing for the 1950s, there ought to be photographic evidence.

Full Access to Through the Decades: Glowback Party
Your VIP ticket includes the entire Opening Celebration experience both in the upstairs VIP space and downstairs in the Glowback Party—from interactive art and era-inspired entertainment to food trucks and the silent disco powered by Silent Events.

Saturday, October 10, 2026

6:30–11 pm

VIP Tickets: $250 per person

Dress is 1950s cocktail chic encouraged, but not required.

American Made: Paintings and Sculpture from the DeMell Jacobsen Collection features more than 100 works spanning two centuries of American art, including works by John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Elizabeth Catlett, Robert Henri, and many more. The exhibition opens to the public October 15, 2026, and remains on view through January 24, 2027.

The Fabulous 50s: Our Founding Decade VIP Party is generously supported by:

Sponsor names and logos

American Made is curated by Todd Herman, PhD, President and CEO of The Mint Museum; Kevin Sharp, Director of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; and Jonathan Stuhlman, PhD, Senior Curator of American Art at The Mint Museum.

This exhibition is on view October 15, 2026-January 24, 2027, in the Carilion Clinic Gallery and the Special Exhibitions Gallery.

Exhibition and educational support for the Taubman Museum of Art’s 75th Anniversary is generously supported in part by the Richard S. Reynolds Foundation, Helen S. and Charles G. Patterson, Jr., Charitable Foundation Trust, and the Richard and Caroline T. Gwathmey Memorial Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.

This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from Virginia Humanities and the VA250 Commission in partnership with Virginia Humanities.

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Elsie Wagg, 1894, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Wilhelm Hunt Diederich (1884-1953), Diana and Hound, circa 1930, bronze with dark brown patina, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Luigi Lucioni (1900-88), An American Landscape, 1930, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Robert Henri (1865-1929), Chow Choy, 1913, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Moonlight in Venice, 1898, oil on wood board. Courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Allan Rohan Crite (1910-2007), Play at Dark, 1935, oil on canvas board, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860), George Washington, Porthole Portrait, circa 1846, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Paul Kelpe (1902-85), Man and Machinery, circa 1934, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), Baby Charles Looking Over His Mother’s Shoulder (No. 3), 1900, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson (1847-1906), Honey of Hymett, 1891, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

Raymond Jonson (1891-1982), Composition Eleven – Rain (Opus to Vera), 1931, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation. © University of New Mexico Art Museum

Sarah Miriam Peale (1800-85), Portrait of Sarah Anne Walter Deming, circa 1829, oil on canvas, courtesy of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation