The generosity of Black professionals is making a big impact on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

In recent announcements, museum officials said that it is renaming one its galleries to honor Dr. Monroe Harris Jr., president of the museum’s Board of Trustees, and his wife, Dr. Jill Bussey Harris, after receiving “an important contribution” from the couple who are avid art collectors and longtime supporters of the museum.

Separately, the museum announced that attorney Jackie Stone, a partner at McGuireWoods, and her husband, B.K. Fulton, founding chairman and CEO of the film and media investment company Soulidifly Productions, donated nine works by African-American artist Bill Traylor that will be on view in the exhibit, “The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse,” that opens May 22.

Officials did not disclose the amount of the Harrises’ contribution. But Alex Nyerges, director and CEO of the VMFA, stated, “Their generous gift offers significant support for the museum’s continued efforts to expand and exhibit its collection of contemporary work by Black artists.”

One of the museum’s 21st century art galleries will be renamed in the Harrises’ honor.

Dr. Monroe Harris is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and partner in Virginia Oral & Facial Surgery. Dr. Jill Bussey Harris is a cosmetic dentist who has a private practice, Beautiful Smiles. Both have long supported African and African-American art and artists. Dr. Monroe Harris also serves as chairman of the board of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Jackson Ward.

As the first African-American to lead the VMFA board, Dr. Harris has championed the expansion of the museum’s collection to include more works by African and African-American artists, including Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” equestrian statue that sits outside the museum on Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

“It’s important for us to not simply be involved, but to also give back to our community,” Dr. Jill Bussey Harris stated.

The nine pieces donated to the VMFA by Ms. Stone and Mr. Fulton are works on paper created with paint, graphite and colored pencils by the late Mr. Traylor, who was born into slavery in Benton, Ala., in 1853. At age 85, he began creating abstract, stylized drawings of people in his community and recollections of his past using materials he had on hand. He produced nearly 1,500 works between 1939 and 1942. He died in 1949.

Valerie Cassel Oliver, VMFA’s Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, called the pieces significant additions to the museum’s collection.

“This collection of art will also serve as foundational markers that show the influences of such artists in the capturing and shaping of Black Southern sensibilities,” Ms. Oliver stated.

“The Dirty South” exhibition, organized by Ms. Oliver, explores the legacies and traditions of Black culture in the African-American South through the lens of contemporary Black musical expression. The exhibit contains more than 140 works of art by intergenerational groups of artists and features sculpture, paintings, drawings, photography, film, sound pieces and large-scale works.

The exhibit will run through Sept. 6.

Details: www.VMFA.museum.