BMA Showcases Works by African-American Artists with Google Art Project Exhibition and Other New Initiatives

Museum Partners with Google Cultural Institute to Present “Questioning the Canon” Online Exhibition

BALTIMORE, MD (February 1, 2016)—The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is honoring African-American History Month with several initiatives to increase awareness of works by African-American artists represented in its world-class collection. Beginning today, an online exhibition of 18 artworks by African-American artists in the BMA’s collection can be viewed by people around the world thanks to a new partnership between the Google Cultural Institute and more than 40 other organizations with African-American artworks and historical artifacts. The BMA is also hosting a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon for entries about African-American artists represented in the BMA’s collection, and offering a new self-guided tour of works by African-American artists whose works are currently on view in the galleries.

Questioning the Canon
Beginning Monday, February 1

A new partnership with the Google Cultural Institute has made it possible for the BMA to have a digital exhibition of 18 masterworks by African-American artists on its website. Featuring works by Nick Cave, David Hammons, Faith Ringgold, Alison Saar, and Kara Walker, the objects assembled in this exhibition challenge the way African Americans have historically been seen, creating alternate narratives to the traditional Western art accounts from ancient Egypt and classical Greece, to the birth of modern painting, to postwar abstraction and conceptual practice.

Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon: African-American Artists at the BMA
Saturday, February 13, 2–5 p.m.

Join us for a lively afternoon of Wikipedia editing to increase the visibility of African-American visual artists online. Create, update, and improve entries pertaining to the lives and works of African-American artists at the BMA and around the world. Library resources, Internet connection, and light refreshments will be provided. Please bring your laptop and power cord. The event is free and open to everyone. No specialized knowledge of the subject or Wikipedia editing experience required. A brief overview of the basics of Wikipedia editing will be given at the start of the program led by Jennifer Ferretti, Digital Initiatives Librarian at Maryland Institute College of Art, and volunteers will be on hand for assistance throughout the event.

Self-Guided Tour: African-American Artists on View at the BMA
Beginning Sunday, February 7

Visitors to the BMA can pick up a new brochure identifying more than 25 artworks by African-American artists on view at the BMA in special exhibitions and collection galleries. Among the artists currently featured are Jacob Lawrence, Glenn Ligon, Horace Pippin, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Joyce J. Scott, and Alma W. Thomas.

About the Baltimore Museum of Art

Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.