YEAR IN REVIEW 2006 THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT YEAR IN NUMBERS 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the Director Exhibitions Acquisitions Donors Volunteers Staff Board of Trustees Financial Information List of Artworks The Walters Art Museum Annual Report Letter from the Director My metaphor for this past year at the centerpiece “Chamber of Wonders,” conceived Walters is Janus, the double-faced Roman god by curator Joaneath Spicer, and went on to of “Beginnings and Endings.” October 22, characterize the Walters’s installation as 2005, marked both a beginning and an ending, “refreshingly different from any of its rivals as we reopened our renovated Charles Street across the States.” (“Palazzo”) Building on the 100th anniversary Within weeks of that October reopening, of its design by the gifted beaux-arts architect, plans were nearing completion for the pur- Williams Adam Delano. We thereby completed chase of 100 West Centre Street from the the reinstallation of all the Western art we Maryland Historical Society, with funds gener- show, from our ancient, medieval and 19th- ously provided by Board President Andrea century collections—which were revealed anew Laporte and her husband Jack. This unantici- at the October 2001 reopening of the renovat- pated opportunity has since been the catalyst ed Centre Street Building—to our Renaissance, for a series of Board-directed strategic conver- baroque, and rococo collections in the sations, addressing potential future expansion Palazzo. The editorial review in the The opportunities against the backdrop of our Burlington Magazine celebrated the Palazzo’s audience-centered Mission and our increasing engagement in regional, national, and interna- tional collaborations. And as that purchase was unfolding, initial steps were being taken with elected leadership in Baltimore City and Baltimore County that would lead to the announcement, in late May, that on October 1, 2006 the Walters would eliminate its general admission fee. This dramatic initiative has already had a profound impact on how we view and respond to our audiences, both real and potential, and doubtless it will help to shape the public mission of the Walters for years to come. 3 The Walters Art Museum Annual Report This has also been a year of extraordinary Petersburg, and traveled to the Bucerius collaborative relationships, with institutions Kunstforum in Hamburg before it came to both nearby and far away—relationships which Baltimore. In spring 2006 the Walters joined might best be evoked by Concordia, the Roman forces with the Contemporary Museum to cre- goddess of “Harmony” and of all the benefits it ate Louise Bourgeois: Femme, an innovative brings. It began in the summer of 2005 with “intervention” in our galleries featuring the art the companion exhibitions, Essence of Line and of one of the world’s leading contemporary Pearls of the Parrot of India; the former, generous- artists. The successful fundraising effort for ly sponsored by Stephanie and Jay Wilson, Femme was lead by our three volunteer chairs Millicent and Peter Bain and Eleanor Abell representing the Walters and the Owen and which traveled from Baltimore to Contemporary, Stanley Mazaroff, Mary Baily Birmingham and Tacoma, grew out of a part- Wieler and Martha Macks-Kahn. Both Sacred nership with the Baltimore Museum of Art, Arts and City Life and Louise Bourgeois: Femme while the latter was a collaboration between received celebratory reviews in regional and the Walters and the Metropolitan Museum of national press. Our final show for the year, Art, where the exhibition was seen after Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher’s Mightier than the Baltimore. Both were accompanied by scholar- Sword, involved some dazzling new technology ly catalogues, as was our next exhibition, Sacred which brought the Walters into a very creative Arts and City Life. Presented by the Women’s collaboration with the Imaging Research Committee of the Walters Art Museum, this Center at UMBC; after the exhibition closed in exhibition was organized by the Walters in col- Baltimore, a version went on to be displayed in laboration with museums in Novgorod and St. Montgomery County at Strathmore Hall. 4 The Walters Art Museum Annual Report Much farther afield, the Walters partnered And, finally, this has been a year of intro- with the US State Department and the ductions and firsts. Our new, embraceable National Museum in Baghdad to bring over mascot Waltee bounded on to the scene, “JAM two Iraqi scientists to train in ivory conserva- at the WAM Birthday Parties!” were offered tion with Terry Drayman Weisser, director of and became an instant hit, and digital photog- our Division of Conservation and Technical raphy became part of the everyday life of the Research. Curator Will Noel went to the Museum, thanks to our photographer, Susan Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Tobin; that was a critical first step in bringing California for help in reading the Archimedes the Walters and its collections to the world Palimpsest, and our educators and curators through our new website, which premiered at worked with the Federation of American year end. Scientists and Cuneiform Digital Library All in all, this has been a year of change and Initiative at UCLA to develop a learning-based growth, in fulfillment of our Mission to bring computer game called “Discover Babylon.” “art and people together, for enjoyment, dis- Much closer to home, but no less important, covery, and learning.” was an initiative of Jackie Copeland, Director of our Division of Education and Public Gary Vikan, Programs, to collaborate with the Wicomico County school system in order to bring our collections to more than 400 middle school students on the Eastern Shore, via staff out- Director reach and innovative internet learning. 5 The Walters Art Museum Annual Report Exhibitions the Walters offers a rare opportunity to see these great collections side-by-side. The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas June 19–September 11, 2005 In collaboration with The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), this exhibition displayed 76 French works on paper at the Walters; at the same time, a similar number were on display at the BMA. The works selected demonstrate the remarkable range that distinguishes French art of the period: neoclassical landscapes through symbolist fantasies; sketches through highly finished narrative scenes; poignant views of peasant life through bawdy carica- tures and social satire. Those works conveying a sense of intimacy with the artist, whether preparatory sketches or personal jottings, were on view at the Walters, while drawings that Byzantine Art from the Dumbarton Oaks from the outset were intended for the market Collection were at the BMA. There is a catalogue combin- ing the works from both institutions and a April 27, 2005–November 4, 2007 searchable on-line catalogue of the over 700 Dumbarton Oaks closed for renovation at the French works on paper in the collections of end of 2004. Its Byzantine collection (4th–15th the Walters, the BMA, and the Peabody Art centuries) ranks among the most significant Collection: Maryland State Archives. The exhi- in the world. The collection also includes sev- bition opened at the Walters and traveled to eral pieces of western medieval art and exam- the Birmingham Museum of Art (2-19-06–5-14- ples of Greek and Roman art. For approxi- 06) and the Tacoma Art Museum (6-9-06–9-17- mately two-and-a-half months, while the gal- 06). leries at Dumbarton Oaks are closed, 17 of these objects—including ivory caskets and Pearls of the Parrot of India devotional panels, a relief statue, and a mag- June 19–September 11, 2005 nificent icon of St. Peter—are on view in the This exhibition featured one of the most Walters’ medieval galleries. The temporary sumptuous manuscripts ever produced by the installation of Dumbarton Oaks’ objects at 6 The Walters Art Museum Annual Report Mughal court of India, an illustrated edition of the Khamsa (Quintet of Tales) by Amir Khusraw, dating from ca. 1595–98. All 29 of the surviving full-page illustrations were shown, as well as ornamental pages and the cover. Twenty-one of the illustrated pages are part of a bound volume at the Walters (W.624), which was dis-bound for conservation, and the remaining eight were borrowed from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Also on view were decorative and text pages from the man- uscript and five other Persian and Indian man- uscripts belonging to the Walters. Photographic wall panels helped explain the Federation, this exhibition told the story of stories depicted. The exhibition was also on Russia’s oldest city from its earliest days in the view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 9th century to its final destruction in 1570. October 14, 2005–January 15, 2006. The exhibition featured approximately 290 art objects and archaeological artifacts from the Palace of Wonders: The New Galleries of medieval city of Novgorod. The material cul- Renaissance and Baroque Art ture of this remarkable city was represented by Opened October 22, 2006 items such as carved wooden and bone objects, leather goods, jewelry, musical instruments, The Walters celebrated the 100th anniversary and birch bark documents. Precious ecclesias- of the groundbreaking for the museum with tical objects—icons, metalwork, and textiles— the reinstallation of the European Old from Novgorod’s numerous churches high- Masters collection—paintings, sculpture, and lighted the cultural achievements of decorative arts from the 14th through 18th Novgorod’s Golden Age. The city’s remarkable centuries—in renovated galleries of the school of icon painting was represented by Walters’ original art gallery, the “Palazzo” icons from the 13th through the 16th cen- Building. turies. For the first time, these distinctive Sacred Arts and City Life: The Glory of icons were displayed together with the materi- al culture of the city that produced them.