BALTIMORE, MD.- The Baltimore Museum of Art is presenting a sublime exhibition of works by Henri Matisse, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. On view December 9, 2015-July 3, 2016, New Arrivals: Matisse Prints & Drawings features approximately 40 recently acquired prints and drawings, most bestowed to the BMA by the collection of Matisse’s daughter, Marguerite Matisse Duthuit, and The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation in New York. The exhibition—one of nine celebrating the museum’s enormously successful Campaign for Art—demonstrates the legacy of renowned collectors Etta and Claribel Cone and the BMA’s continued relationship with members of the Matisse family.

“Etta and Claribel Cone’s dedication to collecting the art of Matisse established at the BMA one of the most comprehensive collections of the artist’s work,” said Jay Fisher, Interim Co-Director and Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs. “The close personal relationship between the artist and the Cone sisters provided the opportunity to acquire key works from the late ’20s and early ’30s, while encouraging Etta to collect all aspects of his work—painting, sculpture, and graphic arts.”

Recognizing the unique character of the BMA’s Matisse collection, the artist’s family has made significant gifts that have added breadth to the museum’s collection. This support, which has included loans for major exhibitions such as Matisse: Painter as Sculptor, has enabled the BMA to organize exhibitions and undertake new research on the artist. In conjunction with the museum’s 100th anniversary, a special gallery in the Cone Collection galleries was dedicated to Marguerite Matisse Duthuit, and her son, Claude Duthuit.

Most recently, significant gifts have been made to strengthen the museum’s collection of Matisse prints, establishing it as the most comprehensive collection of the artist’s prints in North America. The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation has made a promised gift of an impressive group of more than 80 prints from Matisse’s later years, after Etta Cone’s collecting came to a close. In addition, the BMA has received a major gift from the collection of Marguerite Matisse Duthuit—prints as well as remarkable drawings related to a masterwork painting from the Cone Collection, The Yellow Dress.

This exhibition is curated by Jay Fisher, Interim Co-Director and Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, and generously sponsored by George R. Barth, in memory of Dr. George R. Stanley.

NEW ARRIVALS SERIES
The BMA’s enormously successful Campaign for Art has secured more than 3,500 objects during the past decade in honor of the museum’s 100th anniversary in 2014. These gifts have joined the museum’s renowned collection—now 95,000 objects—most of which came from generous donors in this community. To celebrate these new g ifts and their donors, the BMA is presenting a series of New Arrivals exhibitions and installations in nearly every area of the museum from September 2015 through May 2016.