The Way of Nature: Art from Japan, China, and Korea @ Baltimore Museum of Art

The Way of Nature

Art from Japan, China, and Korea

Baltimore Museum of Art

September 21, 2025 - March 8, 2026

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents The Way of Nature: Art from Japan, China, and Korea, which draws on the museum’s extensive holdings to consider the importance of nature in East Asian cultures. The exhibition features more than 40 objects, from magnificent ink drawings to beautifully crafted stoneware and poignant contemporary photographs and prints. Collectively, the works reflect on nature as a vital source of creative inspiration and spiritual connection and consider human existence within the complexity of the vast natural world across centuries and into the present day. The Way of Nature: Art from Japan, China, and Korea is part of the BMA’s Turn Again to the Earth initiative, which explores the relationships between art and the environment.

“The Way of Nature offers an insightful look at the intertwining roots of artistic expression and the experience of the natural world through vibrant works from the BMA’s Asian art collection. It’s an exciting opportunity to see objects on view for the first time, or in a long time, through a lens that is both accessible and meaningful, as many of us seek connection through and to nature,” said Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “As the BMA focuses on expanding its collection with the work of artists from around the globe, we are excited to continue to share more of our holdings, and the stories they contain, with our community.”

The Way of Nature is organized around four overarching themes that engage with elemental aspects of the natural world and human intervention within it. The exhibition opens with a section that examines depictions, interpretations, and connections to the qualities of air, water, and stone. Among the highlights is a handmade Fireman's Coat (hikeshi banten) with Hawk and Waves (Japan, early- to mid-20th century) by an unidentified artist. The intricately sewn object depicts a hawk soaring above turbulent waves, suggesting that the firefighter who chose the design sought the protective powers of water, strength, and keen vision. During a fire, the beautiful imagery would have been worn on the interior, only to be revealed once the fire was extinguished. The section also includes works such as the evocative ink drawing Water and Mountain Landscape (China, 1955) by the artist Huang Junbi and the densely decorated wood and jade sculpture Miniature Mountain with Longevity Motifs (China, late 18th - early 19th century) by an unidentified artist. 

The second section explores the significance of the changing seasons as visual indicators of nature’s transformative power, whether in the experience of wild terrain or in meticulously tended gardens. Across East Asia, emblems of the seasons, such as plums for the spring and chrysanthemums for the fall, are both often shared within communities and widely referenced in art. A case in this section includes a range of objects featuring plum blossoms, such as the hanging scroll Plum Branch and Full Moon (Japan, 1905-1915) by Kamisaka Sekka and the stoneware Bowl Decorated with Plum Branch and Crescent Moon (China, 13th century) by an unidentified artist. The section also includes a stunning Buddhist Priest's Robe (Kesa) in Karaori with Floral Designs (Japan, 1750-1868) by an unidentified artist.

The Way of Nature continues with works that capture human intrusion into the natural realm, as artists reveal humanity’s environmental impact through both imagery of calamitous events and in more subtle and ambiguous scenes. In his series Between Mountains and Water (2014–2017), Chinese artist Zhang Kechun examined the effects of human activities on the landscape in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, while Japanese artist Leiko Shiga documented the aftermath of Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the poignant photo series Rasen Kaigan. The exhibition concludes with consideration of the spiritual transcendence that can be found in nature. This final section is anchored by the eight-panel screen Ten Symbols of Long Life (Korea, mid- to late 19th century) by an unidentified artist. The complex screen incorporates eight separate paintings to convey a wish for longevity, as embodied through such symbols as cranes, bamboo, water, and sun.

The Way of Nature: Art from Japan, China, and Korea is curated by Frances Klapthor, BMA Associate Curator of Asian Art.

BMA - BALTIMORE ART MUSEUM 

10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218

artbma.org

Matsumi Kanemitsu @ Baltimore Museum of Art - Figure and Fantasy

Matsumi Kanemitsu: Figure and Fantasy 

Baltimore Museum of Art 

May 14 - October 8, 2023 

Matsumi Kanemitsu 

Fish in a Pond. 1949 

The Baltimore Museum of Art: 

Bequest of J. Blankfard Martenet 2012.711.22

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present Matsumi Kanemitsu: Figure and Fantasy, an exhibition of 60 works by the American artist created during and shortly after the artist’s residence in Baltimore, including rarely and never-before-seen paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Over the course of his life, Matsumi Kanemitsu (1922-1992) created a remarkable body of work that blended reflections on personal experience with imaginative fantasy. While he worked across media, he is most recognized for the evocative ink drawings and prints that he created after becoming associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. The BMA’s exhibition emphasizes the depth and range of the early, largely figurative drawings created during a pivotal moment in the artist’s career when he was living in Baltimore in the late 1940s, before his association with the New York School. The BMA hosted the artist’s first museum exhibition in 1954, and seven decades later, it is introducing new audiences to the artist’s work in the Stanley Mazaroff and Nancy Dorman Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. 

“Matsumi Kanemitsu is an important second-generation Abstract Expressionist and one of the most talented draftsmen of the 20th century. While he was affiliated with both the New York and Los Angeles art communities, Figure and Fantasy provides an opportunity to explore the artist’s little known, but highly influential time in Baltimore, and reveals how his years in our city helped establish his artistic voice,” said Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “The exhibition also advances our knowledge beyond the small circle of well-recognized names to capture a deeper and truer history of Post-War American art.”

Figure and Fantasy is organized thematically to highlight the ways in which Matsumi Kanemitsu’s period of self-reflection in Baltimore following World War II established the trajectory of his career. The exhibition is drawn exclusively from gifts made by J. Blankfard Martenet (1898–1957), a Baltimore collector who befriended Matsumi Kanemitsu and was instrumental in launching his career. These rarely seen works capture the artist’s distinct synthesis of eastern and western aesthetics and poignant expressions of his lived experiences—his boyhood in Japan, his fascination with the humble aspects of daily life, his dual experience as both an enlisted U.S. soldier and a prisoner of the U.S. military, and portraits of those who formed his community in Baltimore. The exhibition also explores the significance of the relationship between artist and patron, and the ways in which Martenet’s commitment to the artist has led to the preservation of a critical part of his work and career.

Matsumi Kanemitsu - Short Biography

Matsumi Kanemitsu (b. Ogden, UT 1922; d. Los Angeles, CA 1992) was born to Japanese immigrants in Utah. At an early age, his parents sent him to live with his grandparents outside of Hiroshima. His childhood in Japan would later inspire his interest and engagement with emotive depictions of flora and fauna reminiscent of the country’s landscapes. He returned to the United States in 1940 and enlisted in the U.S. Army prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Despite his American citizenship, his Japanese heritage led to his detention and confinement. Matsumi Kanemitsu’s time in the Army intensified his experience of living between two worlds, an emotional and psychological toll that would influence his work as an artist. Yet, his service provided opportunities to live in Europe, where he became immersed in the arts, visiting museums and connecting with other artists, including Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

After being discharged from the Army, Matsumi Kanemitsu moved to Baltimore, where he worked at the Bethlehem Steel shipyards and studied masonry and bricklaying. While he had begun creating oil portraits and pen and ink drawings during his service, his years in Baltimore were marked by a concentrated dedication to his artistic practice. During this time, he studied art informally with Karl Metzler and focused his attention on the study of the human body. While his work from the late 1940s and early 1950s retained strong elements of figuration, Kanemitsu often juxtaposed different styles into one work and experimented with painterly abstraction, developing a visual vocabulary entirely his own.

It was also during this period that he met J. Blankfard Martenet, an avid collector of the artist’s drawings who donated his collection to the BMA in 1957. Thanks in part to Martenet’s patronage, Kanemitsu’s first professional successes were achieved in Baltimore. He was featured in regional artist invitationals, winning a prize at the Peale Museum’s 1952 Life in Baltimore Twelfth Annual Painting Show, and receiving his first solo museum exhibition at the BMA in 1954. Matsumi Kanemitsu would later move to New York and then Los Angeles, becoming a prominent member of noted art world circles and taking on prestigious teaching roles. Starting in the mid-1950s, following his time in Baltimore, he fully embraced abstraction in his practice, and it is this that is most readily recognized.

This exhibition is curated by Leslie Cozzi, BMA Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs.

Baltimore Museum of Art

10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218

artbma.org

Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art @ Baltimore Museum of Art

Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art
Baltimore Museum of Art
September 29, 2019 - January 19, 2020

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art, an exhibition that captures the significant contributions that black artists have made to the development of abstraction from the 1940s to the present. Generations explores the multifaceted power of abstract art as experimental practice, personal exploration, and profound political choice for decades of black artists. The exhibition features nearly 80 paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media installations by such notable artists as Kevin Beasley, Mark Bradford, Jennie C. Jones, Norman Lewis, Lorna Simpson, Alma W. Thomas, and Sam Gilliam. Generations is curated by Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, and Katy Siegel, BMA Senior Research & Programming Curator and Thaw Chair of Modern Art at Stony Brook University. The exhibition is co-organized by the BMA and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Drawing on the extensive collection of Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida, which is recognized for its unparalleled holdings of works by historic and contemporary black artists, Generations builds on the previously touring Solidary & Solitary exhibition, doubling the show’s scale and scope in the BMA’s expansive galleries with new works from The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, as well as select objects from the museum’s contemporary collection. The exhibition highlights unexpected resonances and important distinctions between artists, across time and geographic contexts. In addition to solo presentations of work by Norman Lewis, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and Charles Gaines, Generations provides visitors with in-depth explorations of the work of Alma W. Thomas and Jack Whitten, as well as a broader selection of “duets” that juxtapose works between such artists as Gary Simmons and Lorna Simpson, Melvin Edwards and Leonardo Drew, and Kevin Beasley and Shinique Smith. These pairings are supported by expanded thematic groupings that emphasize the origins and futures of the genre, featuring landmark work by Frank Bowling, Al Loving, Julie Mehretu, Joe Overstreet, and Virginia Jaramillo.

“We find ourselves today in an important moment of cultural reckoning—one in which it is imperative for institutions like the BMA to re-examine the histories of art and to tell a truer and more multidimensional story. In working with the visionary Joyner/Giuffrida Collection, as well as the BMA’s own growing collection, we have an extraordinary opportunity to expand perceptions of what contemporary art was and can be, and celebrate the spectrum and brilliance of artists who have redefined and given depth to abstract art into the present day,” said Siegel. “With this expanded version of the exhibition, we are excited to dive deeper into the material dialogues within and across the work of the featured artists, introducing new audiences to their visions and practices.”

The opening of Generations follows the BMA’s re-conceptualization of its contemporary galleries, in a presentation titled Every Day: Selections from the Collection. The reinstallation highlights major works (and several new acquisitions) by such visionary artists as Howardena Pindell, David Hammons, Kara Walker, Nari Ward, and Jack Whitten, locating black artistic achievement at the center of a thematic overview of modern and contemporary art. This initiative underscores the BMA’s commitment to collecting and presenting the work of artists that have typically been underrepresented in major institutions and exhibitions.

“The presentation of Generations is part of a broader vision to reshape the idea of the museum—who it belongs to and whom it represents. This effort occurs across our special exhibitions, collecting, and public programs. In this way, we can recognize historical shortcomings, and provide our audiences with a richer, more vibrant, and dynamic picture of art—one that speaks to different communities, perspectives, and realities,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “We are very much looking forward to our upcoming exhibitions and to the important conversations they may spur.”

The companion publication, Four Generations: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art, is also being expanded and reprinted by Gregory R. Miller & Co. It is edited by Courtney J. Martin, Director of the Yale Center for British Art, and features new research and writing from curators at some of the world’s leading institutions.

Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art is presented by The Helis Foundation and organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Contributing sponsorship is provided by The Lambent Foundation and The Holt Family Foundation. The presentation in Baltimore is generously sponsored by The Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Exhibition Endowment Fund, Ford Foundation, Bank of America, and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.

BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART
10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218
www.artbma.org

C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Summer '13 Exhibition

SUMMER '13: Chul Hyun Ahn, David Brewster, Henry Coe, Madeleine Dietz, Carol Frost, Grace Hartigan, Jene Highstein, Dimitra Lazaridou, Ben Marcin, Neil Meyerhoff, Raoul Middleman, Bernd Radtke, Christopher Saah, Annette Sauermann, John van Alstine, Zhao Jing
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
July 10 - August 17, 2013

C. Grimaldis Gallery presents its annual summer group exhibition, SUMMER ’13, featuring contemporary sculpture, painting, and photography from exhibiting and represented gallery artists. For new visitors to the gallery, SUMMER ’13 serves as the perfect introduction to the gallery’s program. For those already familiar, SUMMER ‘13 serves as a great reminder and update on the talent cultivated by C. Grimaldis Gallery. 

ZHAO JING

Monument, 2010

Edition of 8, archival digital print, 5 x 7 inches

© Courtesy of the artist and C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore

This will be the opportunity to view the work of two photographers for the first time at the gallery: Zhao Jing and Ben Marcin. ZHAO JING, an award-winning photojournalist, recently completed her MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art, while BEN MARCIN is an accomplished photographer in his own right and a former Sondheim prize Semi-Finalist. 

Other artists featured in SUMMER ’13 are Chul Hyun Ahn, who is concurrently exhibiting at the 55th Venice Biennale, former Sondheim Semi-Finalists John Ruppert and Christopher Saah, as well as gallery artists Henry Coe, Madeleine Deitz, Carol Frost, Grace Hartigan, Jene Highstein, Dimitra Lazaridou, Neil Meyerhoff, Raoul Middleman, Bernd Radtke, Annette Sauermann, and John van Alstine.

This exhibition is part of the 2013 Artscape Gallery Network presented by M&T Bank, an expansion of the Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize featuring artists and art galleries throughout Baltimore city and county.

C. GRIMALDIS GALLERY
523 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
www.cgrimaldisgallery.com

Dennis Lee Mitchell, Alexey Titarenko, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore MD

Dennis Lee Mitchell: Smoke Drawings + Alexey Titarenko: Venice
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Through July 6, 2013

On view at C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, USA,  two concurrent solo exhibitions: ALEXEY TITARENKO: Venice, and DENNIS LEE MITCHELL: Smoke Drawings. 

DENNIS LEE MITCHELL

Untitled, 2010 

Smoke on paper, 30 x 30 in.

Image courtesy C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore

Smoke Drawings is DENNIS LEE MITCHELL’s first solo exhibition at C. Grimaldis Gallery. In his current body of work, Mitchell uses smoke as a drawing tool, delicately applying carbon from a lit torch, depositing the soot from the smoke onto paper. While the resulting images evoke human forms or body parts, his imagery remains abstract, striking a balance between the representational and the ephemeral. For the artist, “carbon is both essential for life and the essence of the ephemeral. In my work, it is the result of heat transforming materials. The smoke becomes a vehicle to capture the elusive moment where chance and idea meet…. The images become metaphor for the human condition.” (Cassidy, Victor M., Dennis Lee Mitchell, Olivia Petrides and Lisa Sambor. Dennis Lee Mitchell, Olivia Petrides, Lisa Sambor. Ukranian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, 2012)

DENNIS LEE MITCHELL earned his MFA in Ceramics from Arizona State University at Tempe in 1971, and his MA and BA from Fort Hays Kansas State University in 1969 and 1968, respectively. He has exhibited internationally in museums and galleries including the Meijer Sculpture Garden in Michigan, the Dubuque Museum in Iowa, the 5th World Contemporary Ceramic Biennale in Seoul, South Korea, and recently at the Ukrainian Institute for Modern Art in Chicago. His artwork resides in many public collections including the Illinois State Art Museum in Chicago, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, the Daum Museum of Fine Arts in Missouri, and the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 

ALEXEY TITARENKO

Gondolas, 2001 

Edition 2/10, silver gelatin print, 16 x 16 in.

Image courtesy C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore

Venice brings ALEXEY TITARENKO's recent photographic achievements of one of Europe’s most iconic settings to Baltimore at C. Grimaldis Gallery. Alexey Titarenko’s photographs of Venice were created from 2001-2008 and employ the unique stylistic approach found in his iconic work of St. Petersburg, Russia and Havana, Cuba. Evocative of ghosts in the landscape, blurs of tourists and the diminishing residential community heavily populate instantly recognizable shots of Plaza San Marco, the Rialto Bridge, and the ubiquitous Venetian canals. The resulting effect is a feeling of timelessness and familiarity, enhanced by the use of photographic film shot through a medium-format Hasselbad camera and traditionally printed as silver gelatin prints. 

ALEXEY TITARENKO has received numerous awards from institutions such as the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, Soros Center for Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the National Audiovisual Centre in Dudelange, Luxembourg. He has participated in many international festivals, biennales, and projects and has exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States. His works are in the collections of major international museums including the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the George Eastman house in Rochester, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts

C. GRIMALDIS GALLERY
523 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
www.cgrimaldisgallery.com

The Baltimore Museum of Art: New architectural master plan for the next 20 years

The Baltimore Museum of Art today unveiled an ambitious new master plan that charts the Museum’s architectural future for the next 20 years.

“The Baltimore Museum of Art is one of the greatest civic spaces in Baltimore,“ said BMA Director Doreen Bolger. “The long-term vision put forth in this master plan will help us enhance the Museum’s visibility as a cultural asset for the region and make it a must-see destination for the community and cultural tourists.”

Designed by renowned neoclassical architect John Russell Pope in 1929, the BMA has grown to encompass several additional galleries for the Museum’s world-class collections, a three-acre sculpture garden, a visitor entrance with an auditorium and restaurant, large special exhibition galleries, and most recently the West Wing for Contemporary Art, which was completed in 1994. The total footprint of the Museum is approximately 200,000 square feet.

The new architectural master plan designed by Baltimore-based Ayers/Saint/Gross Architects + Planners refers back to Pope’s original plan for the BMA by integrating the spaces throughout building, and also builds on the Museum’s mission, vision, and goals. Expansion and renovation opportunities include reopening the grand historic entrance, connecting the galleries with a glass-roof atrium, and reinstalling the collections in new gallery spaces—projects that will create more memorable art experiences for visitors and establish a stronger connection between the BMA and the surrounding community.

The plan also addresses the desire for more visitor amenities, such as dedicated parking, which will be available in a new underground garage at The Johns Hopkins University in 2007. A new North Entrance would create a direct connection to the BMA from the JHU garage, and also provide space for new study centers, classrooms, and an expanded library, providing students and scholars with first-hand opportunities to research the Museum’s remarkable collection.

The BMA Board of Trustees will review project phasing opportunities in the fall. The Museum anticipates having some of these changes in place by the 100th anniversary in 2014.

The Baltimore Museum of Art

www.artbma.org