Women-centric Exhibitions Take Centre-Stage at Baltimore Museum of Art

As part of its ‘2020 Vision,’ Baltimore Museum of Art will only showcase exhibitions and programs dedicated to female-identifying artists beginning Fall 2019.

This initiative is a definite thumbs-up for women artists. The museum has planned 13 solo exhibitions and seven thematic shows with additional presentations in the pipelines.

The BMA kicked off its year- long initiative with “By Their Creative Force: American Women Modernists”. It features names such as Elizabeth Catlett, Maria Martinez, and Georgia O’Keeffe who contributed significantly to the development of American modernism. The exhibition is on view through July 5, 2020.

“The BMA’s 2020 Vision initiative serves to recognize the voices, narratives, and creative innovations of a range of extraordinarily talented women artists. The goal for this effort is to rebalance the scales and to acknowledge the ways in which women’s contributions still do not receive the scholarly examination, dialogue, and public acclaim that they deserve,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “This vision and goal are especially appropriate, given the central role women have played in shaping this museum throughout its history.”

On November 24, the museum also unveiled A” Moment’s Pleasure,” an immersive site-specific installation by internationally recognized artist Mickalene Thomas. The work is a new façade on the exterior that resembles the city’s traditional row houses, while the re-envisioned interior is adorned with new wallpapers, furniture, carpeting, and other design elements. The inaugural Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Biennial Commission is meant for BMA’s two-story East Lobby.

The museum will open “Adorned: African Women & the Art of Identity,” that highlights two dozen artworks from across the US on December 11. The exhibition looks at how women played a critical role in shaping social identity across 20th-century Africa.

The museum has nearly 3,800 works of art by 1,050 women artists and designers. The first painting by a woman artist to enter its collection was a portrait by Sarah Miriam Peale in 1916. She is considered as the first American woman to make it as a professional artist.

Then onwards, the museum has been collecting artworks by contemporary female artists most recently adding major works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Mary Reid Kelley, Wangechi Mutu, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Amy Sherald, Anne Truitt, Carrie Mae Weems, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

These exhibitions will be supported by several public and scholarly programs that shed light on women’s contributions to art history.

Image:Baltimore Museum of Art. Courtesy of Iracaz at en.wikipedia