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Monuments Men and the BMA

With the debut of the highly anticipated Hollywood movie Monuments Men, the Birmingham Museum of Art is proud to honor our close connection to this important historical event.

Merrily We Roll Along

The BMA has a fine collection of “glass house whimsies”—also known as “end-of-the-day glass”—which were items made by glass workers on their own time, for their own use and enjoyment, or to demonstrate their skill. These include glass canes, smoking pipes, swords, gavels, and this colorful rolling pin, recently given by longtime BMA docent Anne Burnette and her sister, Juanita Kilpatrick.

A New Look at Contemporary Artists

Catherine and William Cabaniss have generously donated two significant prints by outstanding artists Radcliffe Bailey and Chris Ofili in honor of Ron Platt’s seven-year tenure as the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

A Major Gift of Japanese Treasures

Dr. Roy T. Ward from Watkinsville, Georgia, has been a friend of the Museum for over twenty years. His first donation of Japanese prints to the collection came in 1995, and, since then, he has generously donated other outstanding Japanese prints and woodblock printed books to the Museum. This past summer Dr. Ward invited Donald Wood, the Museum’s Asian Art curator, to visit and choose gifts for the Museum from his collection.

January 2014: Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California

Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, Albert Bierstadt, 1865 Albert Bierstadt’s adept handling of the brush, sensitivity to composition and color, and ability to capture the atmospheric qualities of light place him […]

November 2013: Chilkat Blanket

Chilkat Blanket, Native American, Tlingit people, 19th century A chilkat blanket is worn draped over the shoulders of chiefs or high-ranking men during important ceremonial occasions. The graphic, bold design […]

September 2013: I Am a Man

I Am a Man: Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tennessee, March 28th, 1968, Ernest Withers, 1968 After Ernest Withers (1922-2007) received his first camera in high school, he quickly began documenting […]

“Jazzed” By Discovery of a Rare Print

While the majority of the BMA’s purchased acquisitions come from commercial galleries and auction houses, occasionally museum-quality works of art surface in unexpected places. This past October, our Curator of American Art, Graham Boettcher, found such a work in a Chicago antique store.

Modern Shin Hanga Prints Gifted to the Museum

Fifteen Japanese prints are a recent gift to the Museum from the estate of Larry D. Luke of Huntsville. The prints are from the 1940s-1960s and represent the work of the finest woodblock print artists active in Japan at the time.

Renaissance Revival Vase Added to Collection

Through the generosity of board member Henry Lynn, the Museum has recently acquired a large snake-handled vase made between 1858 and 1859 by the Minton pottery manufactory in Staffordshire, England.

Chatsworth House Arrives at BMA

Thanks to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Herb Sklenar and their family, the Museum purchased a major example of 18th-century English landscape painting. This glorious view of Chatsworth, one of the stately “treasure houses” of Britain, was painted in about 1725 by Pieter Tillemans (1684-1734), a Flemish artist who played an important role in spreading the visual language of landscape painting.