The Walters Art Museum Adds Five New Paintings to its Permanent Collection

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The notable works tell essential stories on gender, race, religion, and education access

Baltimore, MD (October 8, 2024)—The Walters Art Museum announced today that it has recently acquired five paintings that span genres, time periods, mediums, and places of origin. Together, the historic and contemporary works expand the perspectives showcased in the Walters’ already expansive permanent collection and tell critical stories of gender, race, religion, and education access. The acquisitions are Tavern Owner on a Veranda with Two of Her Staff and a Client (1650s) by Willem van Herp (1614–1677); Two Students in the Life Room of the Heatherley School of Fine Art (1902) by Nellie Joshua (1877–1960); Cintli, Corn, Maíz (2020) by Jessy DeSantis (b. 1991); and wāw (و) (2003) and Symphony of Sīn (2005) by Yelimane Fall (1953–2019).

“Representing the diversity of Baltimore’s residents by expanding our collection and contextualizing the stories we tell in our galleries is at the core of the Walters Art Museum,” said Gina Borromeo, Interim Co-Director. “By acquiring these five paintings, we have taken a step forward in increasing the visibility of diverse artists and subjects. We welcome visitors of all backgrounds through our doors each day, and it is part of the museum’s mission for folks to see themselves represented at the Walters. Representation creates vital connections between our artworks and our community, fostering dialogues that resonate far beyond our galleries. It is fitting that these five works have found a home here in Baltimore, where they will engage, educate, and spark important discussions for generations to come.”

Among the Walters’ new acquisitions, Cintli, Corn, Maíz, painted by Baltimore-based artist Jessy DeSantis, stands out for its stunning colors and cultural connections. The 2020 acrylic painting features a large image of a multicolored corn cob with leaves that transform into the long tail feathers of a quetzal bird—important symbols drawn from the artist’s Central American heritage. Through the painting, DeSantis connects to their personal history and cultural background, celebrating their familial experiences with corn and its spiritual lineage. The composition of Cintli, Corn, Maíz draws parallels with the Maize Deity, an Aztec stone statue made in Mexico circa 1400–1521 that is already in the Walters collection. The statue’s headdress is also decorated with corn and quetzal feathers, connecting the works across time. These resonances were on display in Reflect and Remix: Art Inspiring Artists, a 2024 exhibition that featured the pieces side by side. DeSantis’s stunning, large-scale work was specifically acquired by the Walters to be included in Latin American Art / Arte Latinoamericano, the museum’s first permanent exhibition dedicated to this important area of its collection, opening May 2025.

Two Students in the Life Room of the Heatherley School of Fine Art, painted by English artist Nellie Joshua in 1902, is an important addition to Walters’ 18th- and 19th-century art collection, expanding the museum’s small collection of oil paintings by women from this time period. It also offers an extremely rare glimpse of women in an art education space from the 19th century. The work shows two women through the doorway of an art studio, sitting and conversing while surrounded by a variety of objects gathered for art students to draw. At the time, it was considered controversial for women to attend art school, where they would have to draw undraped (nude) models. Heatherley, the London art school Joshua attended, was one of the few institutions that admitted women, allowing Joshua to reveal this little-seen facet of 19th-century society through her unique perspective. The painting will be displayed at the Walters for the first time in Art and Process: Drawings, Paintings, and Sculptures from the 19th-Century Collection, opening October 24, 2024.

Flemish artist Willem van Herp also brought to light an underrepresented slice of life in his painting Tavern Owner on a Veranda with Two of Her Staff and a Client. This work, made in the 1650s and recently purchased by the Walters, depicts a richly dressed Black woman—the tavern owner—sitting on a veranda and preparing a pipe while she is attended by two employees. The signs of the woman’s economic success speak to the growing participation of people of African ancestry in the economic life of the Southern Netherlands in the mid-1600s. The van Herp painting is a remarkably early European depiction of a Black businesswoman, a subject not often portrayed in artworks of the time. The work joins several other 17th-century paintings centering Black subjects now on view at the Walters, including Balthazar (ca. 1700), a French painting possibly from the workshop of Hyacinthe Rigaud, and Moses and His Ethiopian Wife (ca. 1650), a work by Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens the elder on loan from the Rubenshuis in Antwerp.

The final two recently acquired paintings are by Senegalese artist Yelimane Fall. In addition to being a prolific artist, Fall was an activist, community organizer, and teacher in his native Senegal, a West African country whose population is more than 95 percent Muslim. Both of Fall’s pieces draw on the artist’s Islamic faith and the Arabic tradition of calligraphy, examining the ancient art form through a modern lens. The first work, made sometime before 2006, is entitled wāw (و). It is one in a series of 28 paintings that each feature a different letter of the Arabic alphabet. For centuries, calligraphy has been an important artform in Islamic tradition, valued in both religious and secular contexts for its aesthetic beauty and talismanic properties. Fall, a devotee of the Muridiyya, a Senegalese Sufi order, drew on this calligraphic legacy while exploring the mystical meanings of Arabic in a distinct way for his alphabet series. This piece, a gift to the Walters, was recently on view in Reflect and Remix: Art Inspiring Artists.

The second painting, Symphony of Sīn, from Fall’s Lawh series, was produced in 2005. Fall invokes spiritual power in the work by combining Arabic letters imbued with baraka (blessing) with colors thought to have healing properties. The vibrant composition is not a legible text; rather, it is meant to be contemplated and interpreted by the viewer. The shape of the artwork resembles an African Qur’an board (lawh), which is used to write the word of God. This object is now on view in Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World, juxtaposed with a 19th-century loose leaf Qur’an and leather carrying pouch from Nigeria, another largely Muslim African nation. Together, these pieces help tell the story of how Islam spread from the Middle East across Africa and to the rest of the world, influencing both the artistic and religious practices of this global diaspora.

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 5,000 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 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, Howard County Government, and Howard County Arts Council.