The Walters Announces Details for Its First Dedicated Latin American Art Galleries, Opening May 2025

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Baltimore, MD (September 4, 2024)–The Walters Art Museum announced today that it will debut Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano, its first permanent exhibition dedicated to this important area of the museum’s collection, on May 17, 2025. Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano presents 200 works spanning 40 cultures across more than four millennia and will include bilingual didactic materials, another first for an exhibition at the institution. More than 3,300 square feet of the Walters’ 1909 Charles Street building are currently undergoing their first renovation and full reinstallation in nearly 40 years to facilitate this cultural, historical, and social exploration of Indigenous art of the Americas.

“For far too long, the voices of Latino artists have been absent from the museum’s offerings. Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano is not just a celebration of Latino art and culture from across time and space, it’s also another important step toward mirroring the Baltimore community in our galleries,” said Julia Marciari-Alexander, Andrea B. and John H. Laporte Director. “The number of Latino residents in Baltimore has grown significantly in recent years—in fact, there has been a 77% increase in Baltimore’s Latino population between 2010 and 2020. As we have watched this community blossom, the Walters has dedicated curatorial resources to this collection area, reconsidered how we utilize our gallery spaces, and partnered with community stakeholders in order to present a distinguished and comprehensive installation of our collection of works from the Americas.”

The objects in Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano will be presented in a tandem geographical and thematic order and will explore themes related to the natural world and materials that come from the Americas. Visitors will encounter examples of ancient ceramics, earthenware, gold, paint, shells, silver, stone, textiles, and more from North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean. Collection highlights featured in the exhibition include dozens of golden and jade ornaments from Colombia and Central America; a large-scale Mexica (Aztec) statue of Macuilxochitl, patron god of music, dance, and gamblers; a colonial-era painting of Saint Rose of Lima; two Maya ceramic burial urns made with the special Maya blue colorant; elaborately modeled Andean drinking vessels and ceramics ritually sprinkled with the red pigment cinnabar; and a stone zemí, or container for ancestral and deity essences. Interactive elements, such as video and audio contributions from community members and touch and scent stations featuring 3D-printed Maya glyphs and copal incense, will enhance the visitor experience.

Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano features recent acquisitions of contemporary Latin American works and presents them as counterparts to the museum’s historic collection. Several acquisitions by living artists were made specifically for the installation and include works by Jessy DeSantis, Melissa Foss, Eugenio Merino, Ana de Orbegoso, Uriarte Talavera, Pierre Valls, and Kukuli Velarde, as well as loans from other well-known artists. These works by contemporary artists convey key ideas such as migration, identity, and gender expression, and present visual and thematic resonances between art from the ancient Americas with contemporary works. The pieces will rotate regularly, facilitating an ongoing dialogue between past and present.

“At its core, Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano is about how people in the Americas across the centuries have understood the natural world to be imbued with a living spirit, which is inherent to the beautiful artworks they have created from sacred and precious materials. While Latin Americans are not a monolith, each Latin American culture shares the concept that a vital essence unites people, animals, plants, stones, minerals, the natural world, and the ancestors,” said Ellen Hoobler, William B. Ziff, Jr., Curator of Art of the Americas, who curated the exhibition alongside Patricia Lagarde, Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, Art of the Americas. “This exhibition establishes the Walters as a destination to view art from the Americas and to dive deeply into the nuances of Latin American cultures, exploring the depths of our shared humanity. Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano also presents Spanish-language didactic materials—a first for the Walters—ensuring that gallery materials are accessible to a wider range of visitors.”

Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano continues the museum’s recent investment in permanent and temporary exhibitions created by and about established local minority communities that tap into areas of depth and excellence in the Walters’ historic collections. In December 2023, the Walters mounted Ethiopia at the Crossroads, the first major art exhibition in America to examine an array of Ethiopian cultural and artistic traditions from their origins to the present day, serving the large Ethiopian diaspora community in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. In April 2023, the museum debuted Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, a long-term exhibition that necessitated the renovation of the fourth floor of the museum’s Centre Street building, serving the significant population of Marylanders who are of Asian descent. Advisory groups made up of community members and scholars with Ethiopian and Islamic backgrounds, respectively, were essential in realizing these exhibitions. Similarly, Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano established advisory and focus groups of local Latin American audiences that allowed the museum to strengthen visitor outcomes and center Indigenous perspectives.

For the exhibition, the North Court galleries in the Walters’ historic Palazzo building are currently undergoing a $1.2 million renovation that commenced in June 2024 and will tentatively conclude in October 2024. Renovations to the galleries, which sit in a high-traffic area adjacent to the museum’s iconic Sculpture Court, include constructing new walls and gallery openings, installing new case designs, refurbishing the original terrazzo flooring, adding new scrims, and painting the walls in new colors. The museum contracted the Institute for Human Centered Design to provide guidance on several elements: the floor plan design, placement of didactics and multimedia kiosks, mobility device accessibility, seating, and sensory interactives. For the capital project, the museum hired Lewis Contractors, who previously brought to life the institution’s visions for Hackerman House at 1 West Mount Vernon Place and Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World.

Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano will be accompanied by the publication of The Spirit Within: Art and Life in the Americas. The collection catalog will be printed in a single volume in English and in Spanish and authored by Ellen Hoobler, William B. Ziff, Jr., Curator of Art of the Americas, and Patricia Lagarde, Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, Art of the Americas.

The installation is curated by Ellen Hoobler, William B. Ziff, Jr., Curator of Art of the Americas, and Patricia Lagarde, Wieler-Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, Art of the Americas.

Major support for Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano is provided by The John G. Bourne Fund for The Exhibition of the Arts of the Ancient Americas.

This project is also generously supported by Matt Polk and Amy Gould, The Terra Foundation for American Art, contributors to the Gary Vikan Exhibition Endowment Fund, and The Walters Women’s Committee Legacy Endowment.

This exhibition has been made possible in part by a major grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (MA-255902-OMS-24). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this installation do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services or other funders.

ABOUT THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM
The Walters Art Museum is a cultural hub in the heart of Baltimore, located in the city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. The museum’s collection spans more than seven millennia, from 5000 BCE to the 21st century, and encompasses 36,000 objects from around the world. Walking through the museum’s historic buildings, visitors encounter a stunning panorama of thousands of years of art, from romantic 19th-century images of French gardens to mesmerizing Ethiopian icons, richly illuminated Qur’ans and Gospel books, ancient roman sarcophagi, and serene images of the Buddha. Since its founding, the Walters’ mission has been to bring art and people together to create a place where people of every background can be touched by art. As part of this commitment, admission to the museum and special exhibitions is always free.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Admission to the museum and Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano is free. The Walters Art Museum is located at 600 N. Charles St., north of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. For general museum information, call 410-547-9000 or visit thewalters.org.

Free admission to the Walters Art Museum is made possible through the combined generosity of individual members and donors, foundations, corporations, and grants from the City of Baltimore, Maryland State Arts Council, Citizens of Baltimore County, and Howard County Government and Howard County Arts Council.