Frances Klapthor
Interim Department Head, Arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific Islands and Associate Curator of Asian Art
Curatorial
Frances Klapthor (she/her) started at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1984 as a registration assistant. The next year she became a coordinator for Asian Art and currently holds two titles: Interim Department Head of Arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific Islands (AAAPI) and Registrar. She is responsible for the exhibition, research, growth, and refinement of some 3,200 objects that include Indian metalwork, Chinese ceramics, and Asian textiles and export artworks.
Following the 2015 expansion of the BMA’s Asian gallery, subsequent rotations featured Islamic ceramic art and currently Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ceramics. The Asian gallery will close in early 2023, with a new installation and presentation to open in the summer. In addition to exhibitions of private collections—many that draw from the BMA’s collection—Frances has also co-curated BMA exhibitions of Chinese and Japanese textiles, as well as guest-curated at Towson University’s Asian Arts & Culture Center. She earned a BA in English from Washington College.