The Tamesis
The Baltimore Museum of Art added 250 works of art to its encyclopedic collection last year. A statement released by the museum said the collection’s breadth – coming from around the world and spanning centuries – “reflects the museum’s commitment to expanding the range of global voices represented in its collections”.
More than half of the new works (180 in total) are part of an anonymous gift of contemporary art from 63 different artists, including Gina Beavers, Lucas Blalock, Alex Da Corte, Juliana Huxtable and Martine Syms.
The BMA received widespread attention in late 2020 when it announced it would sell three blue-chip paintings to raise $65 million, which will be used in large part to purchase art by women and artists of color who are underrepresented in the collection. The museum ultimately canceled the sale at Sotheby’s just hours before it was due to take place.
Despite this sudden shift, the BMA continued to diversify its collections over the next few years. “We believe in artistic innovation and compelling stories of the human spirit that transcend historical and geographical boundaries,” BMA director Asma Naeem said in a statement.
Highlights of last year’s acquisitions include a large number of etchings and copper plates (10 each) by Henri Matisse. These etchings (as well as six prints) are from a 1932 illustrated book containing mythological images based on the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé. The other four pictures depict Matisse’s eldest son, Margaret. The works were a gift from Matisse’s granddaughter, Barbara Dauphin du Toit (her late husband, Claude Du Toit, was Marguerite’s son). These 20 prints and etchings join 181 prints and three linoleum blocks gifted to the BMA by Dauphin Duthuit in 2024.
Other notable works in the collection include a painting by unknown surrealist artist Alice Rahon; Kiyan Williams’ aluminum sculpture of LGBTQ rights activist Marsha P. Johnson, first unveiled in 2024 On display at the Whitney Biennial; colorful textiles designed by artists affiliated with the Senegalese Decorative Arts Manufactory; and a Delft pottery jar with a Baltimore tobacco harvest scene, made in a factory founded by Barbara Rotteveel, the earliest known independent female Delft pottery maker.
Here are a dozen works acquired by the BMA in the past year.
Alice Rahon, april festival
Image credit: Baltimore Museum of Art/Courtesy Wendy Norris Gallery, San Francisco
Salah Elmore, Farewell wall
Image credit: Baltimore Museum of Art and Marian Ibrahim
Kian Williams, Statue of Liberty (Martha P. Johnson)
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art/Photography by Charlie Rubin, The New York Times
Gulnur Mukazanova, Shades of Hope #15
Image credit: Courtesy Baltimore Museum of Art and Aspen Gallery/© Gulnur Mukazhanova/Photo Anvar Rakishev
Theodore Diouf and Manufactures sénégalaises des arts décoratifs de Thiès, symbiosis
Image credit: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art and Hilliard & Co.
Bocar Pathe Diong and Manufactures sénégalaises des arts décoratifs de Thiès, sangomar
Image credit: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art and Hilliard & Co.
Theodore Diouf and Manufactures sénégalaises des arts décoratifs de Thiès, night spirit
Image credit: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art and Hilliard & Co.
Henri Matisse, Mallarmé etudes
Image credit: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art/Photography: Mitro Hood
Henri Matisse, Sue Pierce
Image Credit: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art/Photo Mitro Hood
Henri Matisse, bris marines
Image Credit: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art/Photo Mitro Hood
Tobacco tins made by De Drie Klokken
Image source: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art
personal cross
Image source: Courtesy of Baltimore Museum of Art
