Walters Art Museum
William Thompson Walters moved to Paris in 1861 as a nominal Confederate loyalist when the American Civil War broke out. He began collecting art during this exile, building a substantial foundation for what would become a public institution. His son Henry Walters refined these holdings and arranged for the construction of a dedicated gallery space between 1905 and 1909. Upon his death in 1931, Henry bequeathed more than 22,000 works to the City of Baltimore. The collection included ancient Egyptian artifacts, Greek sculpture, Roman sarcophagi, medieval ivories, and Renaissance bronzes. Dorothy Miner became the first Keeper of Manuscripts in 1934 and held that post until her death in 1973.
Henry Walters commissioned architect William Adams Delano to design an elaborate stone palazzo-style structure erected between 1904 and 1909. This Charles Street building faced South Washington Place and connected via overhead bridge to his adjacent townhouse on West Mount Vernon Place. The exterior drew inspiration from the Renaissance-revival Hôtel Pourtalès in Paris while the interior modeled after the 17th-century Collegio dei Gesuiti in Genoa. A Brutalist annex designed by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson Abbott opened in 1974 along Centre Street. That concrete structure underwent substantial alteration between 1998 and 2001 when Kallmann McKinnell Wood Architects added a four-story glass atrium. The Hackerman House, originally built for John Hanson Thomas between 1848 and 1850, reopened in 1991 as a dedicated space for Asian art holdings.
The museum displays two monumental 3,000-pound statues of the Egyptian lion-headed fire goddess Sekhmet on long-term loan from the British Museum. Visitors can view the Greek bracelets from Olbia on the shores of the Black Sea alongside alabaster reliefs from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II. Henry Walters purchased almost 100 gold artifacts from the Chiriqui region of western Panama in 1911 creating a core collection of ancient American native art. Among the Asian highlights is a late-12th or early-13th century Cambodian bronze of the eight-armed Avalokiteshvara. The institution owns the oldest surviving Chinese wood-and-lacquer image of the Buddha dating to the late 6th century AD exhibited in a gallery dedicated solely to this work. A 7th-century carved and hammered silver bowl from Iran represents Islamic art in all media at the Walters.
Starting the 1st of October 2006 the museum enabled free admission year-round following substantial grants from Baltimore City and surrounding suburban arts agencies. In 2012 The Walters released nearly 20,000 images of its collections under a Creative Commons license for upload to Wikimedia Commons. This release represented one of the largest and most comprehensive such initiatives made by any museum globally. The Archimedes Palimpsest was loaned to the museum from a private collector for conservation and spectral imaging studies during the early 2000s. The institution changed its name from The Walters Art Gallery to The Walters Art Museum in 2000 to reflect its status as a large public institution.
Several employees fell ill from toxic vapors related to on-site museum construction starting in 2021. Throughout that same year director Julia Marciari-Alexander refused to meet with Walters employees while advised by law firm Shaw Rosenthal LLP. She stalled the advance of a wall-to-wall unionization effort despite pressure from Baltimore City Council and Comptroller Bill Henry. When directed to allow a vote on unionization in October 2021 she claimed meeting with her employees constituted interference. Workers would have been represented by AFSCME Council 67 if the unionization effort had succeeded.
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Common questions
When did William Thompson Walters move to Paris and start collecting art?
William Thompson Walters moved to Paris in 1861 as a nominal Confederate loyalist when the American Civil War broke out. He began collecting art during this exile, building a substantial foundation for what would become a public institution.
What dates define the construction of the Henry Walters Art Museum main building?
Henry Walters commissioned architect William Adams Delano to design an elaborate stone palazzo-style structure erected between 1904 and 1909. This Charles Street building faced South Washington Place and connected via overhead bridge to his adjacent townhouse on West Mount Vernon Place.
Which specific artifacts are included in the Walters Art Museum collection from ancient civilizations?
The collection includes ancient Egyptian artifacts, Greek sculpture, Roman sarcophagi, medieval ivories, and Renaissance bronzes. The museum displays two monumental 3,000-pound statues of the Egyptian lion-headed fire goddess Sekhmet on long-term loan from the British Museum.
When did the Walters Art Museum begin offering free admission year-round?
Starting the 1st of October 2006 the museum enabled free admission year-round following substantial grants from Baltimore City and surrounding suburban arts agencies. In 2012 The Walters released nearly 20,000 images of its collections under a Creative Commons license for upload to Wikimedia Commons.
Who was the first Keeper of Manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum and how long did she serve?
Dorothy Miner became the first Keeper of Manuscripts in 1934 and held that post until her death in 1973. She managed the manuscript holdings during the early development of the institution as a public museum.