The Baltimore Art Scene
Baltimore: Dining in the City of Steamed Crabs
Inexpensive Things To Do In Baltimore
The Baltimore Art Scene
by David Kiefer
When people visit Baltimore they expect to find colorful neighborhoods, a vibrant Inner Harbor, an old-fashioned baseball stadium, lots of Ravens T-shirts, and plenty of great seafood. What they don't expect to find is one of the world's largest collections of Henri Mattisse's paintings, a small mausoleum's worth of ornately sculpted Greek sarcophagi, or a 55-foot tall whirly-gig. But visitors do find these wonders-and many more in Charm City's greatest treasure: its art museums.Search Baltimore Area HotelsReserve Online - or - Call 1-800-291-1046
Nestled in the quiet mid-town neighborhood of Charles Village, the Baltimore Museum of Art (www.artbma.org) is home to a comprehensive collection of twentieth century American art, a gorgeous sculpture garden, and the world-renowned Cone Collection. During the 1920s, sisters Claribel and Etta Cone (both Baltimore natives) paid frequent visits to Paris, where they befriended various artists and collected their works. Foremost among their artist friends was Henri Matisse, and today, dozens of his colorful canvases are on display in three newly renovated galleries. Also on display are works by Picasso, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Renoir, and a re-creation of the Cone sisters' Baltimore apartments.
A little farther south, in downtown's historic Mount Vernon neighborhood, you'll find the Walters Art Museum. Here the emphasis is on ancient art, and its expansive collection of Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Islamic and Medieval European work encompasses nearly 50 centuries of human artistic endeavor.
There's also a fabulous treasury room filled with Tiffany brooches and Faberge eggs, and an armory replete with swords, maces and suits of armor. But one of the coolest sights can be found on a Greek sarcophagus on the main level. Believe it or not, one of the carved heads adorning the piece bears a striking resemblance to none other than the King of Rock and Roll himself-Elvis Presley! Only in Bawlmer.
Right around the corner from the Walters is The Contemporary Museum (www.contemporary.org). But while the former focuses on the ancient, its up-to-the-minute neighbor, The Contemporary, focuses on the postmodern.
Multi-media installations are the coin of this realm, and the pieces on display always manage to challenge the intellect as much as they please the eye. The museum also sponsors temporary site-specific art projects and displays at various points around the city. Adventurous art lovers can thus use The Contemporary's Mount Vernon location as a first stop for a citywide tour of cutting-edge art.
On the south side of the Inner Harbor (right under the 55-foot whirly-gig; you can't miss it) is the American Visionary Art Museum (www.avam.org). "Visionary Art" denotes work created by people without professional training, who use ordinary objects, as well as traditional media, to express their deeply emotional, and often mystical, beliefs about love, God, humanity, and the universe at large. The AVAM houses North America's largest collection of these astounding, beautiful, and fascinating works. The permanent collection is supplemented by numerous temporary shows with themes such as "Angels and Other Aliens" and "Treasures of the Soul."
Besides the major public museums, Baltimore is also host to numerous private commercial art galleries, most of which are congregated downtown along North Charles Street. Two of the finest are the C. Grimaldis Gallery (410-539-1080) which specializes in contemporary sculpture, and the elegantly appointed Craig Flinner Gallery (410-727-1863), which showcases antique prints and vintage posters.
One of the best ways to familiarize yourself with the Charles Street galleries is to attend First Thursday, a combination open house and cocktail party that the galleries throw during the evening hours of the first Thursday of every month. It's great fun to take a stroll up and down Charles Street, sampling wine and hors d'ourves and enjoying the fine art and good company.
Both the Walters and the Baltimore Museum of Art extend their hours and offer free admission on First Thursdays, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, on nearby Cathedral Street, also sponsors events (generally of a musical variety) to add to the festivities.
If you're lucky enough to be in Baltimore during July, you'll want to pay a visit to ArtScape (www.artscape.org), the city's three-day arts festival. Every year since 1974, a four-block area adjacent to the Maryland Institute College of Art (www.mica.edu)--which, by the way, features its own wonderful Decker Gallery--is given over to painters, jewelers, sculptors, craftspersons, poets, musicians, actors and just about anyone else who follows a muse. ArtScape is a celebration of beautiful things and wonderful people. And, of course there's also plenty of great food.
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