Current Exhibitions
Featured Exhibition
Bonnard & Vuillard
April 23 – August 10, 2008
This intimate exhibition features more than 40 works on paper and paintings by two of the most experimental artists at the turn of the century, Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) and Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940). Drawn entirely from the BMA's rich collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century French art, the exhibition includes five paintings, three drawings, and more than 30 lithographs, etchings, posters, and illustrated books that trace the change in style for both artists as they evolve from a late 19th-century interest in everyday life to a colorful exploration of domestic life in intimate interiors through the 1920s and 30s.
FREE! Take a curator-led tour of Bonnard & Vuillard.
This exhibition is curated by Katy Rothkopf, BMA Curator of European Painting & Sculpture.
Looking through the Lens: Photography 1900-1960
March 16 – June 8, 2008
Approximately 150 vintage prints by some of the world’s best-known 20th century photographers are featured in this exhibition of iconic images by European and American artists such as Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks. Drawn from the BMA’s outstanding collection, these rarely shown photographs were produced during a pivotal period in the history of the medium—when photography became fully recognized as an art form.
Become a part of the exhibition!
Visit Looking through the Lens, then snap your own digital photograph inspired by an image that you’ve viewed, and
upload it to the Looking Now: BMA Digital Photography Project on Flickr. Your photograph could be selected and featured as part of the exhibition in the Digital Gallery at the BMA!
This exhibition is curated by Rena Hoisington, BMA Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs.
The exhibition is generously sponsored by the PNC Foundation.
Meditations on African Art: Pattern
March 12 – August 17, 2008
The third and final installation in the BMA’s Meditations on African Art series, Pattern features more than 70 diverse works—many on view for the first time—that define the shape and surface of African art. Dramatic textiles, fragile adinkra dye stamps, delicately carved ivories, boldly painted shields, and figurative works show the role of pattern in cultural style, body adornment, and dynamic visual design. Nigerian-born, London-based artist Mary Evans will create several site-specific works for the exhibition, including: video montages detailing the slave trade in British port cities, West Africa, and on plantations in the southern U.S. that are viewed through a kaleidoscope; floor–to–ceiling intricately patterned murals; and framed works on paper. She has also created a series of rosettes for the windows above the BMA's Visitors Entrance, that opened on February 24.
This exhibition is curated by Karen Milbourne, BMA Associate Curator of African Art. The Meditations series is generously sponsored by Polk Audio, Matthew Polk and Amy Gould.
Front Room: Notes on Monumentality
February 27–May 25, 2008
The latest installation in the BMA’s experimental project space reconsiders historic and contemporary conceptions of the monument and monumentality through the presentation of photographs, prints, drawings, paintings, video, and sculpture.
Traditionally monuments have served to mark significant historic events, represent heroic figures, or symbolize universal ideals. Magnitude, grandeur, stability, and solemnity are common characteristics of the monument. Our cities are sprinkled with figures carved from marble or forged in bronze whose relevance has faded in the public’s memory. To whom do the monuments of the past now speak? Can the idea of the monument continue in an era when social consensus no longer exists? Front Room: Notes on Monumentality reflects on these questions, along with the monument as an art form, by considering historical monuments and more recent conceptions.
The exhibition is curated by guest curator Mark Alice Durant. The Front Room series is generously sponsored by The Rouse Company Foundation.
LECTURE & RECEPTION
Closing Weekend:
Front Room: Notes on Monumentality
Thursday, May 22, 6-9 p.m.
Free
Also on View
A Grand Legacy: Five Centuries of European Art
Free exhibition
A Grand Legacy: Five Centuries of European Art features the monumental Rinaldo and Armida, one of the world's finest paintings by Sir Anthony van Dyck, as well as masterpieces by Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin.
