Founded in 1928 as a single painting class by artist Theresa Pollak, VCUarts became the official art school of the university in 1933.

These include being ranked at #4 in Graphic Design, #12 in Painting/Drawing, #2 in Printmaking, #1 in Sculpture, and #5 in Time-Based Media/New Media[3] VCUarts was started as part of Richmond Professional Institute (RPI), the historical predecessor to Virginia Commonwealth University, as the "School of Art" in 1928.

[1] Initially, the school relied on private donations and the solitary work of its first teacher Theresa Pollak for funding and admissions.

[4] In 1928, a board of private citizens (later to be known as the RPI Foundation) purchased for $7,500 a disused brick and concrete stable on Shafer Street; earlier that same year, Anderson—who traveled much of his life—purchased 900 acres of land where Richmond International Airport stands today.

Hibbs, learning of Anderson's career as a painter and philanthropist, appealed to the Colonel while he was in Richmond by informing him of the board's acquisition of the stable and their intention to convert the loft on the property into the school's first art studio.

According to Hibbs' History of RPI, her lack of salary pay was allegedly a common practice in music schools of the time.

Before the school's first semester in the fall of 1928, Pollak "was on the telephone every day contacting everyone I knew who evinced even the slightest interest in art"; within the first year, she was able to enroll eight full-time students and nearly 30 on a part-time basis.

During this time, and for the next 33 years, RPI continued to develop the Anderson Gallery as a multi-use facility, hiring full-time librarian Rosamund McCanless and adding a third-story reading room, a mezzanine, an extended book stack five stories tall, and safety features.

[8] Hibbs himself bemoaned the school's many alterations to the space, noting that the changes were made to appease the Southern Association of Colleges, RPI's accreditor.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, as RPI itself expanded rapidly, the School of Art sought to organize itself into a formal place of learning rather than a small curriculum of courses.

[14]During her tenure, Pollak was invited eminent New York artists to Richmond for critiques and lectures, such as Kimon Nicolaïdes, Edmund Archer, Edward Rowan, and Harry Sternberg.

Pollak opined that through the 1950s and early '60s, "the last vestige of any sense of unity" had been lost, and doubted that any incoming leadership would be capable of reining in each department into a harmonious and unified institution.

Hibbs was contacted by head of the department of art history Maurice Bonds about acquiring and resuscitating the Anderson Gallery—which had been a library for over 30 years—for VCUarts.

[21] Notable exhibitors over the course of the Anderson Gallery's history, both under RPI and VCU, include Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Red Grooms, Stephen Vitiello, Larry Miller, Howard Finster, Sue Coe, Steve Poleskie, Walter Dusenbery, Komar and Melamid, Dotty Attie, Miles B. Carpenter, Hunt Slonem, Sonya Rapoport,[8] Yoko Ono,[22] and Judy Rifka.

Former exhibitors also include Richmond's own Theresa Pollak, Joseph H. Seipel, David Freed, Davi Det Hompson, Richard Carlyon, Lester Van Winkle, Frank Cole, Milo Russell, Teresita Fernández, Elizabeth King, Reni Gower, Sonya Clark, Babatunde Lawal, and Myron Helfgott.

DePillars, who also received his doctorate from Pennsylvania State (albeit not in education), was the first African-American dean to lead the School of the Arts.

In 1980, the dance program moved to VCUarts from the VCU department of health and physical education, and began offering bachelor's degrees.

[28] In 1989, as a gesture of international solidarity with the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, VCUarts students erected a "Goddess of Democracy" statue on the university commons lawn as a memorial to their slain Chinese peers.

They sought the help of local artists, Richmond's Chinese community members, and the generosity of nearby merchants to complete the project.

[29] In 1996, Richard Toscan succeeded DePillars as dean of VCUarts; over the next 14 years, the school's graduate program would see its ranking rise from 25th in the nation (according to U.S. News & World Report) to fourth.

[citation needed] Prospective students of fine arts and design are asked to submit a portfolio of work along with their standardized test scores and high school transcripts.

[58] Among the school's notable alumni working in sculpture and installation are Diana al-Hadid, Lauren Clay, Bonnie Collura, Paul DiPasquale,[59] Tara Donovan, Sally Heller, Lisa Hoke, and Whitney Lynn.

Notable alumni who work in photography include Hannah Altman,[60] Colette Fu,[61] Emmet Gowin, and Anne Savedge.

Notable alumni who work in painting include Chino Amobi, Trudy Benson,[62] Nell Blaine, James Bumgardner, Rose Datoc Dall, Torkwase Dyson, Judith Godwin, Abby Kasonik, Mia LaBerge, G. Byron Peck, Beatrice Riese, Carol Sutton, and Loryn Brazier.

Notable alumni who work in illustration include Fahmida Azim, Daryl Cobb, Brian Hubble, Sterling Hundley, Abigail Larson, Mel Odom, Alice Tangerini, and Noah Bradley.

Notable alumni graphic designers include Assil Diab, Philip B. Meggs, Alston Purvis, Phil Trumbo, and Sylvia Harris.

Notable alumni working in comics include Michael Kaluta,[65] Rob G., Wiley Miller, Kevin Tinsley, and Charles Vess.

[66] Other notable alumni include motorsports artist Sam Bass, dancer and choreographer Ana Ines Barragan King, woodworker Katie Hudnall, book artist Lois Morrison, interior designer Charlotte Moss, animator Steve Segal, museum curator Mark Sloan, furniture maker Janice Smith, printmaker Joseph Craig English, jewelry designer and Betony Vernon.