New BMA Matisse & Drawings Study Centers to Boost Access to Collections

The BMA has made surprisingly few announcements regarding specific research goals, and possible impacts thereof. Though this does leave something to be desired, the rich history surrounding the BMA’s Matisse collection thus far is quite promising in and of itself. For example, the collection started when the holdings of Etta Cone—close friend of Matisse—and her sister Claribel were bequeathed to the museum. Decades later, Jay McKean Fisher, who will serve as the namesake of the center’s new gallery space, independently oversaw a near doubling of the BMA’s Matisse holdings during his forty-five-year-long career at the museum.

Announcements concerning The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs have been a bit more specific—and all the more exciting as a result. Also designed by Quinn Evans Architects, this approximately 7,000 square-foot center wound up costing about $10 million to create—twice as much as the new Matisse center. It will house 67,000 works on paper that span from the fifteenth century to the present day. Additionally, the center will feature a large exhibition gallery, study room, preparatory room, new offices, and improved storage.

In a BMA press release, a museum representative stated that, in creating this new center, they are “bringing together in one space the core functions of the museum—preservation, study, preparation, and exhibition—and making them transparent to the public.”

The preparatory room, in particular, embodies this claim as it will allow visitors to obtain an inside, real-time look at the processes museum staff use to evaluate incoming artworks, execute conservation assessments, and select works of art for future exhibitions. This room will also feature a space dedicated to the ongoing digitization of the prints, drawings, and photographs collection. A mere three years ago, only five percent of the collection was online. By this December, the museum has stated that fifty percent of the collection will be accessible online.

The study room will be similarly innovative in terms of accessibility as it will eventually be open to scholars, classes, and casual museum-goers. The room's entrance will be framed by a couple-centuries-old stone archway sculpted by Giuseppe Franzoni (1779–1815). Although the center as a whole will open on December 12, the study room will not be available to reserve by appointment until the Spring of 2022.

This center’s inaugural exhibition, The Rembrandt Effect, promises to explore the famed artist’s lasting impact on printmaking and will feature more than eighty works from the collection. As is the case with many artists from centuries past, Rembrandt’s paintings are generally more well-known than his works on paper. But, to any art historian worth their salt, the artist’s prints are an exciting and integral piece of the art historical timeline.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by The Baltimore Museum Of Art (@baltimoremuseumofart)

And, lastly—in an impeccably timely move, the BMA will open all gender restrooms—the John Waters Restrooms—to their visitors in conjunction with the premiere of these two new centers.