BMA Today - Summer 2023

Summer 2023

THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

The Matter of Bark Cloth

On view through October 1, 2023

Cover

On view in The Matter of Bark Cloth, through October 1, 2023: Unidentified Samoan Artists. Bark Cloth (Siapo) Fragment. 1920s-1940s. American Samoa. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Gift of Dale C. Brumbaugh, Baltimore, BMA 1996.131.

Board of Trustees

OFFICERS

James D. Thornton, Chair

Clair Zamoiski Segal, Immediate Past Chair

John Gilpin, Vice President & Treasurer

Fiona Ong, Secretary

Kwame Webb, Vice President

David Wallace, Vice President

John Meyerhoff, Vice President

Ellen Dame, Vice President

Darius Graham, Assistant Vice President

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

James D. Thornton, Chair

Clair Zamoiski Segal, Immediate Past Chair

John Gilpin, Vice President & Treasurer

Fiona Ong, Secretary

Kwame Webb, Vice President

David Wallace, Vice President

John Meyerhoff, Vice President

Ellen Dame, Vice President

Darius Graham, Assistant Vice President

Virginia K. Adams

Amy Gould

Patricia Lasher

Katherine Schulze

TRUSTEES

Virginia K. Adams

Rheda Becker

Michael Brown

Adam Burch

Sharon Butler

Sam Callard

Beverly Bentley Carroll

Ellen R. Dame

Nupur Parekh Flynn

Denise Galambos

John A. Gilpin

Joanne Gold

Amy Gould

Darius Graham

Nancy Hackerman

Pamela Hoehn-Saric

Elizabeth Hurwitz

Sherrilyn Ifill

Lori N. Johnson

Patricia Lasher

George McCulloch

John Meyerhoff

Sheela Murthy

Fiona Ong

George Petrocheilos

Steven Pulimood

Paul Oostburg Sanz

Katherine Schulze

Clair Zamoiski Segal

Michael Sherman

Stuart O. Simms

Anne L. Stone

James D. Thornton

David W. Wallace

John Waters

Kwame Webb

HONORARY TRUSTEES

Alexander C. Baer

Constance R. Caplan

Kathryn (Lynn) Deering

Nancy L. Dorman

Janet E. Dunn

Sandra Levi Gerstung

Katherine M. Hardiman

Margot W.M. Heller

Louise P. Hoblitzell

Freeman A. Hrabowski III

Mary B. Hyman

Patricia H. Joseph

Susan B. Katzenberg

Jeanette Kimmel

Frederick Singley Koontz

Jeffrey A. Legum

Amy Frenkil Meadows

James S. Riepe

Frederica K. Saxon

Jean Silber

Louis B. Thalheimer

David Warnock

Ellen W.P. Wasserman

NATIONAL TRUSTEES

Sylvia de Cuevas

Monroe Denton

Barbara Duthuit

Phillips Hathaway

Joseph Holtzman

Edward S. Pantzer

EX-OFFICIO TRUSTEES

The Honorable Bob Cassilly

The Honorable Edward Rothstein

The Honorable John Olszewski

The Honorable Steuart Pittman

The Honorable Wes Moore

The Honorable Bill Henry

The Honorable Calvin Ball

The Honorable Brandon M. Scott

The Honorable Nick Mosby

Editors MELANIE MARTIN JESSICA NOVAK COLLEEN KENNEDY Contributors ANDREA BOSTON ANNE BROWN

Design and Production

LINDSEY LANG NICOLE MILLER

Image Services & Rights MEGHAN GROSS COLLEEN HOLLISTER

Images of BMA Staff CHRISTOPHER MYERS

BMA Today

Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum Drive

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The BMA would like to thank the following donors for their combined generosity: City of Baltimore, Citizens of Baltimore County, and Howard County Government and Howard County Arts Council. Major support is also provided in part by the Maryland State Arts Council.

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BMA Today is published three times a year for Members of the Baltimore Museum of Art. ©2023 Baltimore Museum of Art.

Je vais décoller

Sanlé Sory, 1977

A playful passenger in the height of 1970’s Western fashion—flared bell bottoms, white top, fringed shoulder bag, and oversized white sunglasses—steps up as if to board an airplane painted against a backdrop. In the photographer’s studio, the fantasies of luxury travel, worldwide journeys, and freedom come to life. The composition and subject are effortlessly cool, a trademark of studio photographer Sanlé Sory, based in Burkina Faso. The BMA acquired the image in 2019 as Sory received renewed recognition for his work following a major solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018.

Sory’s creative photography captured the vibrancy of landlocked Upper Volta’s youth culture following the small West African country’s independence from France in 1960. Through his photography, Sory documented the arts and music scene of Bobo-Dioulasso, the country’s second-largest city and arts hub. His whimsical and witty portraits in front of hand-painted backdrops of exotic locales–such as this one–capture this period of optimism. Upper Volta flourished until the 1980s, when austerity measures imposed by international institutions repressed the oncethriving art scene, where Sory continues to live and work.

Je vais décoller (I am going to take off) intersects with works across the BMA collection, from independence-themed ceramics in the American collection to the commemorative collages by postwar artist Louis Lo Monaco celebrating the March on Washington, as well as portraits captured by Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee.

Sanlé Sory. Je vais décoller (I am going to take off). 1977, printed 2018. From the series “Volta Photo”. The Baltimore Museum of Art: The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, BMA 2019.204 © Sanlé Sory, Courtesy of the artist and Yossi Milo, New York

The Legacies Around Us

For more than a generation, the BMA’s Sculpture Gardens have beckoned visitors to dwell on the sun-dappled terraces, stroll the shaded walkways, and admire the impressive collection of modern sculpture arranged across more than three acres. The gardens offer visitors moments to live with art. Lunches are eaten while observing works, conversations are held between sculptures, and even proposals of marriage are made within these gates. There is an intangible value in interweaving art, nature, and moments of everyday life. Alan and Janet Wurtzburger knew this in donating their collection and supporting the creation of the bluestone terrace upper garden, and Ryda and Robert H. Levi did the same because they so deeply cherished the collection visitors now encounter in the wooded lower garden.

Moving inside the Baltimore Museum of Art, visitors can be enchanted by the multitude of gem-like gifts from benefactors whose wishes have been for the visual arts to reach more people in Baltimore. We speak frequently of the Cone sisters, whose vaunted collection of modern art elevated the BMA’s status on a global stage. Beyond the outdoor oasis formed by the Wurtzburgers and the Levis, our city has also benefited from the contributions to exhibitions and scholarship offered by the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies and The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs; from the exhibition fund provided by the Thalheimer family, and from the generosity of trustees past and present like Clair Zamoiski Segal, who ensure our exhibition program each year is rigorous in scholarship and compelling to every visitor who enters into our galleries. All in all, the BMA is a jewel-box of treasures, meant for all of you to explore and discover.

Throughout this summer, work will continue on two more incredible initiatives that will profoundly expand how visitors are able to bring art into their lives. The second iteration of the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Biennial Commission will open in November, featuring the work of Raúl de Nieves. As with the work created by Mickalene Thomas in 2018, we expect de Nieves’ evocative and colorful work to transform our East Lobby, entrancing visitors to gather and linger, to engage with his joyful artmaking. Bob and Rheda are helping us reshape the BMA to be more inclusive from the moment visitors enter the building. Their gift also supports a fellowship for an ascending curator to be involved in every aspect of the exhibition making.

Additionally, construction is moving steadily along in support of the reimagination of the Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center. The Josephs are committed to immersive and experiential arts education, and the new center will offer families, K-12 students, and learners of all ages the opportunity to interact, engage, and touch, and to think critically about the connections that art forges in the world.

The BMA is so fortunate to partner with such incredible advocates connecting communities through both access to art and art education. For many of you, the BMA is home, and we are certain that with these new projects, as well as those on the horizon, we will be welcoming many more who have never entered our doors, allowing us to meaningfully engage with our community, artists, and visitors from our city and across the world.

Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director

On view in the Alan and Janet Wurtzburger Sculpture Garden: Front: Henri Laurens, Large Bather, 1947. BMA 1966.55.12 © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris; Back: Isamu Noguchi, Untitled, 1958. BMA 1966.55.22. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo by Maximilian Franz

Wander and Wonder

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Ryda and Robert H. Levi Sculpture Garden. The tranquil two acres feature 14 works from the Levis’ collection gifted to the BMA or purchased specifically for the BMA by the Levis. Prominent artists such as Scott Burton, Alexander Calder, Anthony Caro, Ellsworth Kelly, Joan Miró, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Tony Smith, and Mark di Suvero are represented.

29 feet

Height of the Levi Sculpture Garden terrace, which offers a dramatic view of the pathways, wisteria-covered trellis with benches, manicured lawns, lush plantings, and soaring trees. One of the top priorities while designing the garden was to preserve the mature tree canopy.

4 minutes

Time it takes for the gleaming stainless-steel loops of Construction 140 by José Ruiz de Rivera to complete a full rotation.

14 feet

19 Works

Number of sculptures from the 20th century on view in the Alan and Janet Wurtzburger Sculpture Garden, which features a bluestone plaza, fountain, and reflecting pool. The garden opened in June 1980.

Top: Panoramic view of the Ryda and Robert H. Levi Sculpture Garden; Center left: Terrace overlooking the garden; Center right: José Ruiz de Rivera. Construction 140 (Detail). 1971. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Gift of Ryda and Robert H. Levi, Baltimore, BMA 1987.217. © Estate of José de Rivera, Courtesy of Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago; Bottom left: Alexander Calder. 100 Yard Dash 1969. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Gift of Ryda and Robert H. Levi, Baltimore, BMA 1987.215. © 2023 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Bottom right: Raymond Duchamp-Villon. The Horse (Detail). Original 15” plaster model, 1914; this enlarged cast 1966. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Alan and Janet Wurtzburger Collection, BMA 1974.62.5

Height of Alexander Calder’s 100 Yard Dash, created in 1969.

“I believe that if you buy great works of art, they should be available to the public.”

Ryda Levi, 1988

Final Weeks

The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century

On view through July 16, 2023

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop, this exhibition captures the extraordinary influence hip hop has had on contemporary culture through more than 90 works of art and fashion by some of today’s most important and celebrated artists and iconic brands. Explore the past two decades of hip hop through a wide range of painting, sculpture, photography, installations, video, and fashion.

Visit artbma.org/theculture for reservations.

The Culture Catalog Essays, interviews, and images of works from The Culture. Available at the BMA Shop and shop.artbma.org.

Co-organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM), the exhibition is co-curated by Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director; Gamynne Guillotte, the BMA’s Chief Education Officer; Hannah Klemm, SLAM’s Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art; and Andréa Purnell, SLAM’s Audience Development Manager.

The Culture is further supported by an advisory committee comprising experts and artists across a wide range of disciplines, including Martha Diaz, Founder and President of the Hip-Hop Education Center; Wendel Patrick, professor at the Peabody Music Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University; Tef Poe, rapper and activist; Hélio Menezes, anthropologist and curator of Afro-Atlantic Histories; and Timothy Anne Burnside, public historian and Museum Specialist in Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Ford Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by The Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Exhibition Endowment Fund, the Victor J. Schenk Trust, Patricia Lasher and Richard Jacobs, Lorayne and Jim Thornton, Clair Zamoiski Segal, George Petrocheilos, Paul L. Oostburg Sanz and Tonya Robinson.

Beats, rhymes, culture and finances for this exhibition are generously provided by hip-hop ambassadors “DJ Fly Guy” Flynn & Nupur Parekh Flynn, inventor of BAGCEIT®

This exhibition is located in the Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Galleries and The Saidie A. May Wing, the East Lobby, and the Contemporary Wing.

Above left: Installation view of The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century Photo by Mitro Hood.

Recasting Colonialism: Michelle Erickson Ceramics

On view through October 1, 2023

Contemporary ceramicist Michelle Erickson reimagines the forms and palettes of historical ceramics to create works that expose the persistence of racism and exploitation in post-colonial countries. Both witty and jarring, her subjects include the importation of Chinese goods, child soldiers, former U.S. President Donald Trump, police brutality, and the Second Amendment. Erickson’s pieces are paired with 35 works from the Museum’s Asian and European ceramic collection.

Martha Jackson Jarvis: What the Trees Have Seen

On view through October 1, 2023

Martha Jackson Jarvis has created mixed-media works that imaginatively retrace her great-greatgreat-great grandfather Luke Valentine’s journey as a free Black militiaman from Virginia to South Carolina while serving in the Revolutionary War. The result is a tour de force in abstract painting with 13 grandly scaled works on paper and a focused group of smaller works inspired by the meditative form of the mandala.

Co-curated by Leila Grothe, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Cecilia Wichmann, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, and Jessica Bell Brown, Curator and Department Head for Contemporary Art

This exhibition is supported by The Hardiman Family Endowment Fund.

This exhibition is located in the Contemporary Wing, including the Ellen & Jack Wasserman Gallery, and the T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation & James S. Riepe Family

Curated by Brittany Luberda, Anne Stone Associate Curator of Decorative Arts.

This exhibition is located in the Contemporary Wing, including in the Edith Ferry Hooper Gallery and the Nancy M. Haragan Gallery.

Matsumi Kanemitsu: Figure and Fantasy

On view through October 8, 2023

While living and working in Baltimore in the late 1940s, Matsumi Kanemitsu created a remarkable record of his life to date. This exhibition of 58 early works—on view for the first time in seven decades—offers an intimate glimpse into Kanemitsu’s past experiences and surreal imagination. Together they demonstrate the artist’s exceptional talent and originality.

The Matter of Bark Cloth

On view through October 1, 2023

Drawn almost entirely from the BMA’s collection, this presentation focuses on the importance of bark cloth—an artistic object made from the inner bark of trees—with 19 beautifully patterned artworks from across Africa and Oceania. These works expand our considerations about the nature of art and Western art history’s limited views.

Curated by Kevin Tervala, Associate Curator of African and Oceanic Art and Interim Chief Curator

This exhibition is supported by the Victor J. Schenk Trust.

This exhibition is located in the Contemporary Wing, including the Vivian and Edward Benesh Gallery

Organized by Leslie Cozzi, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

This exhibition is supported by Kwame Webb and Kathryn Bradley.

This exhibition is located in The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs

Wild Forms: Fauve Woodcuts

On view through October 15, 2023

Henri Matisse, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Othon Friesz were all members of the influential group of French artists known as the Fauves (or Wild Beasts). This exhibition examines more than a dozen woodcut prints produced early in the careers of Fauve artists and those associated with them.

Curated by Katy Rothkopf, The Anne and Ben Cone Memorial Director of The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies and Senior Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the BMA

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by Clair Zamoiski Segal. This exhibition is located in Jay McKean Fisher Gallery in The Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies

On view in Wild Forms: Fauve Woodcuts: Raoul Dufy. Hunting c. 1910. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Fund, BMA 2006.62 © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.

Histories Collide: Jackie Milad x Fred Wilson x Nekisha Durrett

On view through March 17, 2024

What images and thoughts emerge when myths and histories collide? Nekisha Durrett of Washington, D.C. and Jackie Milad of Baltimore have created new works that respond to this question in dialogue with Fred Wilson’s Artemis/Bast (1992). Durrett turned to the legacy of Harriet Tubman to produce an abstract study of Tubman’s revolutionary and visionary way of thinking. Milad’s collaged and painted tapestries incorporate the artist’s personal cultural lexicon reflecting her Egyptian Honduran American identity, including collaborations with her young son and goldsmith father, studies from Egyptian cultural heritage in museum collections, and irreverent multilingual song lyrics.

Co-curated by Cecilia Wichmann, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, and Dave Eassa, Director of Public Engagement. A jury of distinguished cultural workers, including Angela N. Carroll, Teri Henderson, Ashley Minner Jones, and Ginevra Shay, consulting with George Ciscle as the jury’s advisor, selected proposals by Durrett and Milad for commission.

This exhibition is supported by The Dorman/Mazaroff Contemporary Endowment Fund.

This exhibition is located in the Mary Frick Jacobs Wing, including the John Waters Rotunda and adjacent galleries.

New On View Recent Acquisitions

This summer, 17 works recently acquired by the BMA are waiting for you to discover in the galleries. We highlight three of the recent acquisitions here. For a complete list of new acquisitions on view and their gallery locations, visit stories.artbma.org.

Living room (night)

Erin Fostel, 2021

The shadows of window blinds, an extravagant fern, and a windowpane— all in shades of gray— span a bare white wall. Baltimore-based artist Erin Fostel created this image while grieving a miscarriage; the living room becomes uncanny and imbued with nocturnal mystery. This study of space, of absence and presence, is strikingly rendered in charcoal and graphite on paper.

A graduate of MICA,

Fostel regularly addresses healing through grief and follows in her late father’s footsteps: he was an architect, and she portrays urban landscapes and empty domestic interiors in her architecturally detailed drawings. This work and the others in

her Shadow Series, were made during the pandemic when Fostel was quarantined and inspired to follow the movement of light over her home throughout the day and evening, creating both a sense of peace and of loneliness.

On view in the Contemporary Wing, in the Robert E. Meyerhoff & Rheda Becker Gallery

A Tulip, a Carnation and Roses, with Shells and Insects, on a Ledge Balthasar

van der Ast, 1630s

One of the premier still life painters in 17th-century Netherlands, Balthasar van der Ast captures the exquisiteness of a red and white striped tulip, a carnation, pink roses, and various seashells in this sensitively rendered composition. The expensive

and rare tulip led to one of the first speculative market crashes in the Dutch Republic in the 1630s, while also becoming a subject of botanical fascination and study. At the same time, van der Ast’s delicate still life displays the commodities of Dutch global trade,

particularly through the activities of the Dutch East India Company. The shells pictured here come from the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Caribbean Sea. They not only serve as reminders of Europeans’ rapidly expanding knowledge of the world, but

also the exploitation of people and places that came through colonialism.

van der Ast. A Tulip, a Carnation and Roses, with Shells and Insects, on a Ledge. 1630s. The

On view in the Mary Frick Jacobs Wing, in the Samson Feldman Gallery.

Tonica’s Locks

Amoako Boafo, 2021

The large size of Amoako Boafo’s oil painting makes this contemporary portrait feel monumental and grand. Standing nonchalantly but confidently against a beige wall, Tonica wears a casual white top and khaki

bottoms. The hues of her clothing contrast with her skin and the shadow cast behind her shows off her short locks. The Ghanian painter studied at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design as well as the

Academy of Fine Arts

Vienna, and his works depict contemporary Black subjects from Africa and the African Diaspora in all their individuality, complexity, and beauty. Boafo often works in deliberately flat

and bold monochromatic color palettes while creating backgrounds and clothing. He then finger paints his sitters’ skin, literally and figuratively offering a personal touch in his portraiture.

On view in the Contemporary Wing, in the Caswell J. Caplan Memorial Gallery Amoako Boafo. Tonica’s Locks. 2021. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Purchased as the gift of Kevin and Lisa Pham, BMA 2022.46. © Amoako Boafo, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles

Art/Work: Women Printmakers of the WPA

November 5, 2023 – June 30, 2024

In 1943, the U.S. General Services Administration entrusted to the BMA’s care nearly 1,000 prints made by artists employed by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP), which, from 1935 to 1942, offered employment to millions of workers affected by the Great Depression, including artists. This exhibition features a selection of approximately 50 prints created by women printmakers who gave visual form to the fraught state of American society during the lead up to World War II. At a time when the kinds of work available to women

changed, these artists—workers themselves— focused their print production on the human faces of labor and poverty in alignment with swelling communist and socialist movements in the U.S. By attending to labor inside and outside the home, these women used their imagery to call out racial, gendered, and class-based inequities exacerbated by the temporary collapse of a capitalist economy.

Reexamining the contributions of WPA women artists offers fresh insight into both their moment and the ways these challenges still manifest today. An adjacent gallery

will highlight how WPA artists used the printing press to oppose fascism, creating works about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) even while U.S. citizens were banned from aiding Spain.

Curated by Virginia Anderson, BMA Curator of American Art and Department Head of American Painting & Sculpture and Decorative Arts; and Robin Owen Joyce, BMA Getty Paper Project Fellow.

Mabel Wellington Jack. Swan Dive c. 1935-1939. The United States General Services Administration, formerly Federal Works Agency, Works Progress Administration, on extended loan to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration, WPA, Federal Art Project, 1935-1943

Eyewinkers, Tumbleturds, and Candlebugs: The Art of Elizabeth Talford Scott

November 12, 2023 – April 28, 2024

This exhibition revisits and amplifies the landmark 1998 exhibition organized by George Ciscle at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), working as a guest curator with students from MICA’s inaugural Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS). Elizabeth Talford Scott drew upon found materials and the creative practice of her family lineage in her artmaking, creating stunning fiber works that did not yet garner the recognition that they deserved in the larger artworld. This collaborative exhibition underscored the status of Talford Scott’s work as fine art and modeled innovative community-centered approaches to curation and interpretation.

Twenty-five years later, the BMA is partnering with MICA and the Estate of Elizabeth Talford Scott at Goya

Contemporary to build upon that legacy, engaging a new group of students and bringing together four museums and four schools to celebrate Talford Scott’s work.

In November 2023, the BMA will showcase more than 20 of Talford Scott’s innovative works, leading up to the community initiative across Baltimore City from February through May 2024. Each of the exhibition locations— the BMA, Cryor Art Gallery at Coppin State University, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Center for History and Culture, MICA, James E. Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA) at Morgan State University, The Peale, Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and the Walters Art Museum—has a significant history with EDS and/or the artist. Students from each school will be working on the project.

Elizabeth Talford Scott. Person on a Swing. 1996. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Gift of Nancy L. Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff, Baltimore © Estate of Elizabeth Talford Scott at Goya Contemporary Gallery | TALP

Guest curated by George Ciscle, MICA Curator-inResidence Emeritus and organized by Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Cecilia Wichmann

This exhibition and accompanying programs are generously supported by Lorraine Whittlesey & Markell Whittlesey and Robbye & Kevin Apperson.

A Transformation in Understanding

Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem’s 1619 work Venus and Adonis can tell many stories. The canvas, on view in the BMA’s Jacobs Wing, depicts the ill-fated lovers Venus and Adonis, a pair whose mythological tale was told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses around 8 C.E. The work also serves as a handsome example of how depictions of the human form have been used throughout history to tell rich and intricate stories. And finally, the work offers a glimpse of the transformations taking place in the 17th century in the Netherlands and across Europe.

Curator of European Painting

and Sculpture Lara YeagerCrasselt notes that most of Ovid’s stories in Metamorphoses focus on the transformations of gods and humans—often into plants and animals. “When the first illustrated editions of Metamorphoses were published in the mid-16th

century, they provided incredible sources for the imaginations of artists,” she said. “Artists faced the challenge of translating text into image, of visualizing complex human narratives, and depicting moments that could convey or teach moral lessons.”

In the painting by Cornelis van Haarlem, the Roman goddess Venus embraces the hunter Adonis amid a wooded landscape.

As Ovid’s story goes, an errant arrow from Cupid’s quiver struck Venus in the breast and caused her to fall madly in love with the mortal

Adonis. The painting brings to life the moment in which Venus implores her human lover to be careful of the mighty beasts in the forest. Yeager-Crasselt points out that the dogs positioned at Adonis’ side identify him as a hunter and foretell his demise. Adonis, of course, does not yield his lover’s warning and is later killed by a wild boar

sent by Venus’ jilted husband, Mars, who was enraged that he no longer held Venus’ affections.

Mythological subjects and their passionate and violent tales provided European artists with ample source material. But, as Yeager-Crasselt explains, these subjects also “allowed artists like Cornelis van Haarlem to depict large, nude figures within the conventions of decorum.”

Removed from everyday life, biblical and mythological stories gave artists permission to pursue studies of the naked human form. Ovid’s many subjects in Metamorphoses were so popular among artists that they were considered the

“Artists faced the challenge of translating text into image, of visualizing complex human narratives, and depicting moments that could convey or teach moral lessons.”

Previous spread and above: Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem. Venus and Adonis. 1619. The Baltimore Museum of Art: William A. Dickey, Jr. Fund, BMA 1966.1

“Painter’s Bible,” according to Yeager-Crasselt.

Depictions of biblical and mythological stories also encouraged artists to finesse their knowledge of antique sculpture. “Young artists learned by copying sculptural fragments and gradually progressed to nude models,” Yeager-Crasselt said. “Some artists pursued knowledge of the human form by traveling to Italy to witness antique Roman art firsthand, and others imagined the sculptures, drawings and paintings from afar.”

Yeager-Crasselt is also quick to mention that while many works depicted the naked female form, women were largely barred from these artistic pursuits. “Women feature prominently in these works, yet they were rarely permitted the professional opportunities that were open to men, such as learning in studios by copying after antique sculpture or the nude model,” she notes. The gender imbalance is worth remembering when one considers how broadly Ovid’s texts traveled across Europe and how extensively classical antiquity was studied among artists—nearly all of them men.

It’s a consideration that visitors can carry with them this fall as Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800 opens in the special exhibition galleries. Meanwhile, under YeagerCrasselt’s curation, Venus and Adonis will be situated with works by Hendrick Goltzius, another artist working in the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands in the early 17th century.

“Venus and Adonis is the central work in the new installation, European Art in Focus, which brings together works by several artists in the

BMA’s collection. The gallery will juxtapose paintings and prints with antique sculptural fragments from Türkiye to demonstrate, concretely, the

kinds of dialogues that occurred across different media,” said Yeager-Crasselt.

There is a transformative power in recreating these

historic juxtapositions for visitors to the BMA. YeagerCrasselt offers that “the stories depicted and the themes presented are not new, but they speak to our lived experiences differently than they could a decade or a century or two centuries ago. We bring our own social, political, ecological, and cultural considerations to these works and can understand them anew.”

Hendrick Goltzius and after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem. Phaeton. 1588. Plate 3 from the series The Four Disgracers The Baltimore Museum of Art: Blanche Adler Memorial Fund, BMA 2013.357

“Women feature prominently in these works, yet they were rarely permitted the professional opportunities that were open to men.”

Meyerhoff-Becker Lobby Commission 2023

Raúl de Nieves

Opening November 19, 2023

Emergence—from a cocoon, a slumber, a loss—is a precipice between what we were and who we are to become. In the second presentation of The Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Biennial Commission, multimedia artist, performer, and musician Raúl de Nieves invites visitors to explore the wonder, beauty, and chaos of the natural world through the themes of emerging and becoming.

Left and following page: Installation views of Comunidades Visibles: The Materiality of Migration, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 2021.

Photo by Brenda Bieger and Amanda Smith, courtesy of the artist and Albright-Knox

“Raúl de Nieves makes incredibly joyous and extravagant artworks that consider space and environment first,” explains Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Leila Grothe. “Because they’re so grand, colorful, and elaborate, one might think them to be a bit ostentatious. But instead, de Nieves’ works are very honestly made of humble craft materials and treasures, like plastic beads and feathers, and through them the artist celebrates the everyday through modest means.”

Born in 1983 in Michoacan, Mexico, and based in Brooklyn, de Nieves learned traditional Latin American sewing and beadwork in school and alongside family members, and uses those approaches in his work, which pays tribute to his family, his homeland, and Mexican folk art. He also accumulates and adorns every surface of his sculptural figures–both human and animal–to create fantastical creatures immersed in deeply narrative environments, imbued with both Catholic imagery and Mexican folklore motifs. The embellished figures also refer to another central tenet of de Nieves’ aesthetic: self-expression within queer club culture.

Transforming the East Lobby into a Dreamscape

De Nieves’ works investigate themes of beauty and metamorphosis, the human body, and sexuality. While some of his earlier works explored the deep-seated grief after the loss of his father, he is now emerging into a new thematic focus on mutability–the ability to change and evolve. Change is inevitable; it is how we grow, adapt, survive. Change is also how we can understand ourselves, our bodies, the world around us, and have transcendent epiphanies.

“Focusing on such a prominent place within the museum, the Lobby Commission welcomes its community to new ideas and new voices that are often marginalized within the art community,” shares current Meyerhoff-Becker Curatorial Fellow Cynthia Hodge-Thorne.

The Clair Zamoiski Segal and Thomas H. Segal East Lobby is among the most public spaces in the Museum, and de Nieves’ works will greet each visitor with a lighthearted experience of fun, dazzle, and wonder that speaks to his ongoing admiration for moments of emergence and transformation in life.

De Nieves’ central installation piece will consist of a 27-pane faux stained-glass window showcasing moments of wild transformation and symbolic significance. Brood X cicadas, monarch butterflies, and a crested caracara falcon–which came to the artist in a dream–will be some of the transformational creatures depicted by de Nieves. With the passing of the sun, the multicolored light cast below will change throughout the day

Above the stairwell, de Nieves will suspend a multi-tiered chandelier depicting a human figure within a cocoon. The cocoon serves as a space for waiting, patience, and

anticipation. Bead-encrusted figures will be seated on lobby benches, eager for direct connection with visitors. Lastly, the artist will also create a faux stained-glass lightbox installation continuing the theme of the larger window for the face of the East Lobby visitor services desk.

“De Nieves is a perfect artist for the BMA, because he revels in the beauty of every moment and doesn’t believe anyone needs special training to appreciate life,” continues Grothe. “As a proudly self-taught artist, de Nieves believes in empowering visitors to follow their own creativity. And we do, too!”

Supporting the Next Generation of Artists and Arts Professionals

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to present Raúl de Nieves’ evocative work, which embraces a range of artistic and cultural traditions and speaks powerfully to the experience of change,” says Asma Naeem, the Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director

Change is inevitable; it is how we grow, adapt, evolve, survive. Change is also how we can understand ourselves, our bodies, the world around us, and have transcendent epiphanies.

of the BMA. “This continues the vision of the Meyerhoff-Becker Commission, which engages our community with the work of pathbreaking artists and radically transforms our public spaces.”

“The BMA is committed to centering artists and voices who have been historically marginalized by the art world,” Grothe says about the Commission’s importance. “By commissioning artwork in collaboration with artists, we can leverage the resources of the Museum to support artists in exploring new directions.”

The Commission also includes the paid Meyerhoff-Becker Curatorial Fellowship, which supports an ascending art museum professional, who works on all aspects of the exhibition, including writing and editing an accompanying exhibition catalog.

“Working on this exhibition and catalog has given me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and stretch my creativity,” shares Hodge-Thorne, who was also instrumental in curating the initial exhibition of the Commission: Mickalene Thomas: A Moment’s Pleasure from November 2019 through May 2022. “With this fellowship, I can truly explore all aspects of exhibition creation from the very first sketches to helping the artist through installation.” By giving young professionals this opportunity for exhibition, curatorial and publication experience, the fellowship helps develop the new voices of art history for generations to come.

“By commissioning artwork in collaboration with artists, we can leverage the resources of the Museum to support artists in exploring new directions.”

Raúl de Nieves is generously supported by the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Biennial Commission.

Right: Raúl de Nieves in his studio, 2021. Photo by Ambera Wellmann

For The Record: Hip-Hop Conversation with Devin Allen at the Pratt Library

Wednesday, July 12, 6–8 p.m. Enoch Pratt Free Library

Free

Join renowned photographer Devin Allen at the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s downtown location (400 Cathedral St.) for a discussion about the evolution of hip-hop culture over the past 50 years.

Registration is encouraged. Visit prattlibrary.org for more information or to register for this event.

Panel Discussion: When Histories Collide

Thursday, September 14, 6:30 p.m.

Hear from the artists during an in-depth panel discussion prompted by the exhibition Histories Collide: Jackie Milad x Fred Wilson x Nekisha Durrett, which came to fruition through the BMA’s 2022 Artemis/Bast Open Call initiative. This program is open to all ages.

Visit artbma.org for more details and reservation information.

Free Family Sundays Pop-up Workshops

July 9, August 13, and September 10, 2 p.m.–5 p.m.

Join us on the second Sunday of each month for a series of pop-up Free Family Sunday workshops. Programs will be led by teaching artists and focus on works from the BMA collection and special exhibitions.

Visit artbma.org for more details.

All programs and events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

PHOTOS BY MAXIMILIAN FRANZ

BMA Lexington Market

This summer, join us at the BMA’s branch location, scheduled to open in August, and enjoy free art experiences and opportunities for connection Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

During open hours, visitors are invited to make art, participate in public programming, read from our non-circulating library, find community with others, or simply just be. Connecting Baltimore’s creative community with Lexington Market’s patrons, recent events have highlighted artists, chefs, market vendors, musicians, and more.

Visit artbma.org/bmalexingtonmarket for all the latest news and information.

BMA Lexington Market is generously sponsored by the Middendorf Foundation and the T. Rowe Price Foundation.

Membership offers exciting opportunities to celebrate and explore the arts at the BMA. Members enjoy invitations to select exhibition openings and other special events, discounts on programs and concerts, and access to digital programming offered throughout the year. Be sure to continue to check our website for a current schedule and event details.

Council Day Tour: The Matter of Bark Cloth

Tuesday, July 25, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Join exhibition curator and Interim Chief Curator Kevin Tervala for an intimate tour of the exhibition. Invitations will be emailed.

Council Tour & Reception: Recasting Colonialism: Michelle Erickson Ceramics

Wednesday, September 13, 6–8 p.m.

Brittany Luberda, Anne Stone Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, will lead the group on introductory tours to be followed by light refreshments in Antioch Court.

Invitations will be mailed.

Behind the Screens: An Exclusive Members’ Benefit

BMA Members are invited to enjoy the digital lecture series Behind the Screens. An exclusive benefit for Members, these lectures about the Museum’s exhibitions and collection are specially created by our Curators and sent directly to your inbox. The library of past presentations is available at: artbma.org/behindscreens, password: weloveart.

Have a topic suggestion or are not receiving our emails? Please contact membership@artbma.org.

Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800

Council Talk, Preview, and Reception

Saturday, September 30, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

BMA Council Members are invited to an auditorium talk and reception with Andaleeb Badiee Banta, Senior Curator and Department Head of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at the BMA. Invitations will be mailed.

Members Preview Party

Saturday, September 30, 7:30–9:30 p.m.

The evening includes light bites, live music, drop-in drawing sessions with a Renaissance costumer, and a cash bar.

RSVP Required. Invitations will be emailed. Please contact our Membership team at membership@artbma.org to update your email in our system.

Member Benefits

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Princess Anna Alexandrovna Galitzin (Detail). c. 1797. The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Mary Frick Jacobs Collection, BMA 1938.192

Art After Hours

John Waters

Friday, March 10, 2023

From a live drag king show to improv comedy, plus specialty cocktails, appetizers, and a DJ spinning dance music all night, Baltimore’s best late-night art party celebrated BMA Trustee and favorite filmmaker John Waters in a sold-out evening of irreverent activities for art lovers.

The Culture Opening Celebration

Friday, March 31, 2023

Exhibition donors, sponsors, key supporters, lenders, and artists gathered together with their friends and family to celebrate this transformative exhibition.

Photos by Erika Nizborski

Photos by Maximilian Franz

The Culture Council & Members Opening Party

Sunday, April 2, 2023

In celebration of the opening of The Culture, Members gathered for a preview and reception at the Museum featuring many artists represented in the exhibition, with hip-hop founders, supporters, and DJs in attendance, including CLASH, BMA Trustee and exhibition sponsor Nupur Parekh Flynn, DJ Kool Herc, exhibition sponsor DJ “Fly Guy” Flynn, Cindy Campbell, Coke La Rock, and Lucky Bling (above:

Members

Ice Cream Social

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Members, along with their family and friends, enjoyed a sunny afternoon in the BMA’s Sculpture Gardens.

Photos by Maximilian Franz

left to right).

Photos by Maximilian Franz

Calendar

Ongoing Exhibitions

The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century

Through July 16, 2023

Martha Jackson Jarvis: What the Trees Have Seen

Through October 1, 2023

Recasting Colonialism: Michelle Erickson Ceramics

Through October 1, 2023

The Matter of Bark Cloth

Through October 1, 2023

Matsumi Kanemitsu: Figure and Fantasy

Through October 8, 2023

Wild Forms: Fauve Woodcuts

Through October 15, 2023

Histories Collide: Jackie Milad x Fred Wilson x Nekisha Durrett

Through March 17, 2024

July

9 SUNDAY Free Family Sundays Pop-up Workshops, 2–5 p.m.

September

10 SUNDAY Free Family Sundays Pop-up Workshops, 2–5 p.m.

13 WEDNESDAY Council Tour & Reception: Recasting Colonialism, 6–8 p.m.

14 THURSDAY

Panel Discussion: When Histories Collide, 6:30 p.m.

25 TUESDAY Council Day Tour: The Matter of Bark Cloth, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

August

13 SUNDAY Free Family Sundays Pop-up Workshops, 2–5 p.m.

The Matter of Bark Cloth

Through October 1, 2023

30 SATURDAY Council Preview Event: Making Her Mark, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Members Preview Party: Making Her Mark, 7:30–9:30 p.m.

Top: The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century Photo by Maximilian Franz; Center left: Community Day Celebration for The Culture. Photo by Maximilian Franz; Right: Installation view of Jackie Milad’s Wadjat (2023), in Histories Collide. Photo by Mitro Hood.

Meet the New Trustees

Analyst® (CFA) designation. She currently resides with her husband and two children in Ellicott City.

Beverly Bentley Carroll

Beverly Bentley Carroll, CFA is a returning BMA Board Member (2007–2017).

Based in Baltimore, Beverly is the regional investment director for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for PNC Private Bank Hawthorn. Beverly joined Hawthorn in 2014 and has nearly three decades of investment experience.

Prior to joining Hawthorn, Beverly served as a senior portfolio manager with Graystone Consulting in Potomac, Maryland from 2009–2014. While at Graystone, she was responsible for the advice, construction, implementation, and oversight of discretionary multi-asset portfolios for a broad array of non-profit organizations. From 2001–2009, Beverly was a senior portfolio manager in the Baltimore office of U.S. Trust. While at U.S. Trust, she managed multi-asset portfolios for private clients, trusts, and institutions. She has also held positions in equity research at Fidelity Management and Research, and within the private equity industry. Beverly holds a B.A. in economics and art history from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and holds Chartered Financial

George McCulloch

George McCulloch is a private investor in technology businesses. He is a co-founder of Level Equity, a private equity and venture capital firm. Previously, he was a managing director at Insight Partners. He has been a technology investor for over 20 years and has served as a director of private, public, and nonprofit software, technology, and education enterprises, including as a trustee of Artstor.

George was born and raised in the Baltimore area and divides his time between New York and San Francisco. He is a graduate of Stanford University.

Management, LP, a multistrategy investment firm focused on breakthrough biomedical technology companies founded by world renowned scientistentrepreneurs. Catalio was founded in March 2020 and today manages over $1 billion in assets between its private equity, private credit, and public equities strategies. The firm has offices in New York, Baltimore, and London.

George currently serves on the Boards of Haystack Oncology, Octant Bio, DNA Script, Odyssey Therapeutics, and Anagenex. He also served as President of the HealthCor Catalio Special Purpose Acquisition Corp.

Prior to founding Catalio, he was a General Partner at Camden Partners Holdings, LLC, a private equity firm that spun out of T. Rowe Price, where he focused on making healthcare investments.

George serves on the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Financial Economics.

George earned his B.A. degree in Financial Economics from the Johns Hopkins University.

Corporate Council

The enormous contributions of Corporate Council Members help keep the BMA dynamic and accessible to all. Corporate Council Members receive exclusive benefits to engage employees, entertain valued clients, and provide visibility to their companies as BMA corporate partners.

Corporate Council Benefits

Invitations to private exhibition previews and other special events

Annual corporate events for employees and their families

Free access to ticketed exhibitions for employees

Private curator-led talks

The opportunity to rent Museum spaces at a discount

George Petrocheilos

George Petrocheilos is the co-founder and managing partner of Catalio Capital

To learn more about Corporate Council, please contact the Grants & Sponsorships office at 443-573-1808, or email abaldwin@artbma.org

Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen

Lauded

HOURS

Monday and Tuesday Closed

Wednesday–Friday 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m.

Saturday

Brunch: 11:30 a.m–3 p.m.

Dinner: 5 p.m.–8 p.m.

Sunday

Brunch: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Dinner: 5 p.m.–7 p.m.

RESERVATIONS

gertrudesbaltimore.com or 410-889-3399

CRABARET

Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 6–10 p.m.

Join us for one of Baltimore’s signature summer events, Crabaret, in the BMA’s Sculpture Garden, to benefit House of Ruth Maryland. Feast on Chef John Shields’ crabby concoctions complimented by a selection of fine wines and craft brews. Dance under the stars to live music and bid on fantastic auction items.

LOBSTERAMA

One of our most popular summer traditions is back! Lobsterama will occur every Thursday night in August, when you can enjoy a delicious, steamed Maine lobster served with clams and mussels, baked potato, coleslaw, and corn on the cob. Treat yourself and order the lobster stuffed with crab imperial! A limited number of lobsters are ordered for each Lobsterama event. Reservations are required.

Our Picks

Proceeds from the BMA Shop benefit the Museum’s educational programs.

1. Old Soul Onesie, $23.95

2. Sneakerhead Cotton Crib Sheet Set, $32.95

3. Four Fingers of Def Ring, $485

4. Wooden Wick Crackling Candle/Whiskey Glass, $35

5. Honeybee Steel Flask, $44

6. The Culture Exhibition Catalog, $55

7. Hip Hop at the End of the World, $40

8. Plush Cat Sumo Wrestler, $26.95

9. Piano Cat Dish, $8.95

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Marie Amegah reflects: Meredith

Marie Amegah’s paintings capture the rhythms of body language. The way a subject’s eyes relax in the safety of a familiar embrace. How a shoulder dips while shifting positions in a chair. The way someone’s upright posture can confirm either confidence or defiance. Her contemporary portraits shimmer with sequins, color, and beads, adding an unexpected electricity to these quiet, intimate moments.

In the BMA’s Cone Wing, Simone Leigh’s 2020 sculpture Meredith also underscores the power of subtle gestures, while conversing with Edgar Degas’ famous statue Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen Meredith adopts the same stance as her predecessor—hands clasped behind her back, face forward,

chin high. With Meredith, a new history is told in a gallery of modern art and her presence is felt immediately. She towers in the room, commanding space. Her radiant figure is crafted from glazed stoneware over metal and she wears a skirt made of raffia, a reference to the conical thatched roof houses built by Batammariba architects in northern Togo and Benin.

This unexpected play between placement, color, and texture captivated the Baltimorebased Amegah, who was born in Togo and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

“The contrast between the skin tone and the lower half of the sculpture is really jarring,” she said. “That mimics the contrast of Meredith even being in that room [in the Cone Wing], in that

environment, which sits in contrast to everything else on the walls.”

Leigh’s sculpture honors collaborator Aimee Meredith Cox and their partnered efforts to introduce young Black girls to the Afro-diasporic choreography of dance legend Katherine Dunham. For Amegah, a sacred space exists in the physical body and its connection to others. She sees that reflected in Meredith, a work that embodies various sacred spaces created to support the artistic expression of Black women and girls. Amegah’s current paintings combine illustration and collage accented with glitter, fabric, and beadwork to affirm the tenderness shared between Black queer people.

“I’m trying to depict solace and how people spend time

together, how we show care, how we hold each other, and how to be at ease in one’s body,” she said.

“I’m interested in how figures interact on the picture plane and how I can use body language to drive home the themes of care and love.”

Top: Installation view of Simone Leigh’s Meredith (2020) in the Cone Wing. From the collection of Michael Sherman and Carrie Tivador, Los Angeles, on extended loan to the Baltimore Museum of Art. © Simone Leigh.

Above: Marie Amegah, 2023. Photo by Anne-Sophie Amegah

Checking in with our readers!

Take our BMA Today survey and help us put the best news, information, and moments with art in your hands.

If BMA Today were a house, you could say we completely renovated it in 2018. We updated the look and feel from the typography and color palette to the paper we use. We also revamped our format and introduced more reader-friendly features. The By the Numbers infographic, Collection Highlight, New Acquisition, and Drawn To features are now in every issue. But as any homeowner can attest, a house is never truly finished. We would love to hear from you about

what elements of BMA Today you value and where we could improve. Please take a moment to share your opinions. Visit artbma.org/bmatoday or scan the QR code. Two participants will each receive The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century catalog and poster. Scan this QR code or visit artbma.org/bmatoday to complete the survey.