Center for Prints, Drawings and Photographs

The new Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs is dedicated to the presentation, study, and preservation of the BMA’s works on paper collection. With more than 57,000 prints, 4,000 drawings, and 4,000 photographs from the 15th century through the present day, the BMA has one of the most significant holdings of art on paper in the United States.

Works on paper represent two-thirds of the BMA’s entire collection, but their sensitivity to light requires that they typically remain off view. The Dorman-Mazaroff Center, located on the first floor, allows for much more of this portion of the Museum’s collection to be available for public viewing. The approximately 7,000-square foot center, designed by Quinn Evans Architects, features a dedicated space for temporary exhibitions, study rooms for scholarly and public programs, staff offices, improved storage and publicly visible work areas that invite visitors to see the core functions of the Museum. The BMA is also digitizing approximately 40,000 works to make them publicly accessible for study and enjoyment online.

Collection highlights include a vast body of 19th-century French prints from the George A. Lucas Collection, as well as excellent examples of European graphic works by such artists as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Édouard Manet; modernist prints and drawings by Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Joan Miró; experimental photographs by Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston; and 20th-century American photography by William Eggleston, Gordon Parks, and Carrie Mae Weems. In recent years, the BMA has expanded its holdings by women artists and artists of color with contemporary works on paper by Sanford Biggers, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, Faith Ringgold, and Kara Walker, among others.

At the heart of the Dorman-Mazaroff Center is the Study Room, giving students and scholars a chance to examine works more closely.

The Study Room is available by appointment only and can accommodate individuals and classes up to 30 people. Appointments are available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Please provide a minimum of three weeks’ notice when scheduling your appointment.

To visit the Study Room or request information about works in the Prints, Drawings and Photographs collection, email the department at pdp@artbma.org or call 443-573-1792.

The Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs is generously supported by Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff, the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore, the Henry Luce Foundation, the France-Merrick Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and The Sheridan Foundation.