Category: Our Collection
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Fortune Justice’s Face Jug
A 19th-century ceramic shows how a Black potter thrived in the post-Civil War South The story of Fortune Justice, a Black potter (c.1856–1898) in Edgefield (present-day Aiken County), South Carolina, is a testament to the resilience, creativity, and often-overlooked contributions of Black artisans in the larger history of American ceramics. Trained in the craft while […]
Colleen Kennedy | 07.24.2024 -
New Acquisitions on View
This summer, 11 new additions to the Museum’s collection make their BMA debut. Read more about some of these recent acquisitions below and plan your next visit with a comprehensive list of new works on view and a map of where to find them. John Ahearn, Bashira, 1992 Charlie Ahearn, Bashira Walton Avenue 1992, 1992 […]
Colleen Kennedy | 07.12.2024 -
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
