The culmination of the New Arrivals series is a major exhibition of approximately 200 artworks that juxtapose recent acquisitions with complementary works already in the collection.

Examples include several pairings, such as two paintings by the French Post-Impressionist Pierre Bonnard depicting the same basket of fruit from two different perspectives and a rare pair of late 18th-century demi-lune sideboards—one came into the BMA in 1972 and its mate turned up 35 years later. A new gift of a c. 1800 Japanese table screen with a view of a New Year’s scene is joined by a mid-19th-century Japanese color woodcut triptych of a lavish interior scene with figures.

Some of the new acquisitions are presented as a group like four impressions of Nocturne, a magnificent 1879-1880 etching and drypoint by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, each demonstrating how the artist achieved very different effects through variant inking of his plates. Other ensembles include six hats created by artists in the Cameroon region of Africa and seven miniature bronze animals by Antoine Louis Barye. A few singular objects like René Magritte’s enormous bronze Delusions of Grandeur (1967), Grace Hartigan’s Pallas Athena – Fire (1961), and Sarah Sze’s mixed media sculpture Random Walk Drawing (Eye Chart) (2011) stand by themselves.

Explore almost 4,000 gifts of art given to the BMA between 2006 – 2016.

Curated by

Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs Rena Hoisington

Supported by

This exhibition is generously sponsored by The Richard C. von Hess Foundation. Additional support provided by RBC Wealth Management and Frederick Singley Koontz, Chair of the BMA Board of Trustees, 2011-2015, honored for his distinguished leadership with gifts from BMA Trustees and Staff.