Hosted by the Baltimore Museum of Art

Category: Our Collection

  • Shinah Solomon Etting: Jewish Matriarch of Early Baltimore

    In 1792, Shinah Solomon Etting (1744-1822), a Jewish widow, sat for her portrait in Baltimore. Her portraitist, Charles Peale Polk (1767-1822), was a member of the Peale family, and many of his relatives—including his uncle Charles Willson Peale—were professional artists. Polk’s portrait of Shinah Etting (fig. 1), which is currently on view in Jacob and […]

    Emily Rose Beeber | 03.07.2024
  • A Puzzling Plate from 18th Century China

    One afternoon, a young man stopped at an antique shop north of Baltimore City, hoping to find a present for his new wife. He found the perfect gift: a puzzle-like plate with separate parts that fit together in just one way. After more than 30 years, the couple decided to offer the plate to the […]

    Staff | 10.11.2023
  • Baltimore and World War II’s Impact on Artist Matsumi Kanemitsu

    One of the first Japanese American servicemen detained in the wake of Pearl Harbor drew on personal experience to develop his work outside of formal training Few people are aware that West Coast abstract artist and influential college educator Matsumi Kanemitsu (1922-1992), or Mike as he was known to his friends, spent his formative years […]

    | 09.20.2023
  • Bark Cloth Defies Categorization

    As much of a textile as it is a painted canvas or a work on paper, barkcloth—made from the inner bark of trees—confounds Western notions of art. By not fitting neatly into the artistic genres taught in predominantly Euro-American institutions, bark cloth prompts us to question and challenge the structures that shape our surroundings, said […]

    Irene Bantigue | 07.28.2023
  • 16 New Acquisitions on View This Summer

    The BMA has a history of collecting art that responds to the present moment, including pivotal gifts from Baltimore’s Cone sisters, whose acquisitions from living artists encouraged the Museum’s commitment to contemporary art. Our curatorial team continues this longstanding tradition, creating new ways to interpret art history and acquiring artworks that tell the rich and […]

    Staff | 06.29.2023
  • Recently Retired Senior Registrar Melanie Harwood Reflects on Five Decades at the BMA

    When Melanie Harwood began volunteering at the BMA in 1972, she had no idea that she was embarking on a 50-year career at the Museum. She had just graduated with an art history degree from Wellesley College and had some experience working in an art gallery in Boston when she moved to Baltimore with her […]

    Anne Brown | 02.27.2023
  • Five Most Loved Artworks at the BMA

    Hearts for Art returned this past Valentine’s Day weekend, and votes for the favorite artworks of 2023 have officially been counted. During this annual celebration, now in its tenth year at the BMA, visitors are invited to wander the galleries and leave paper hearts in front of the works they love the most. This year’s […]

    Staff | 02.23.2023
  • From the Ground Up

    New Interpretation for the Antioch Floor Mosaics Reflect Many Cultural Influences Situated near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in present-day Türkiye, the ancient cities of Antioch and Daphne were thriving cultural, business, and political centers between the 1st and 6th centuries. Since the 1940s, fragments of floor mosaics from the homes of cosmopolitan elites […]

    Staff | 02.10.2023
  • Coming Attractions: John Waters In Conversation with Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson

    Photographer Catherine Opie and multimedia artist Jack Pierson spoke with filmmaker, producer, writer, artist, collector, and BMA Trustee John Waters in his Baltimore dining room in January 2022 to discuss the underlying themes of his art collection, featured in the BMA’s Coming Attractions: John Waters. Portions of their conversation are below with light edits for […]

    Staff | 01.27.2023
  • Woodlawn Vase: The Prize of Preakness

    Proudly standing just under three feet tall, the Maryland Jockey Club’s lavishly ornate Woodlawn Vase is perhaps the most famous trophy in American sports history and certainly one of the most important pieces of presentation silver in the United States. Visitors to the Baltimore Museum of Art can see the original Woodlawn Vase year-round, except […]

    Anne Brown | 05.20.2022

Making Her Mark: A History Of Women Artists In Europe, 1400–1800

A Teapot and Our Thirst for Fossil Fuels

Baltimore and World War II’s Impact on Artist Matsumi Kanemitsu