Daily Management Review

The Walters Art Museum Confronts Its Founders’ Confederate Legacy


05/05/2021


The origins of the Walters Art Museum date back to 1931, when Henry Walters bequeathed to the city of Baltimore an extensive art collection started by his father, William T. Walters. Today, the museum is reckoning with its founders’ white-supremacist legacy.



by Tatsiana Zhurauliova

Walters Art Museum, Centre Street Addition (1973-1974, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott). Photograph by Eli Pousson
Walters Art Museum, Centre Street Addition (1973-1974, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott). Photograph by Eli Pousson
The Walters Art Museum is among numerous American institutions confronting the legacy of racism and exclusion that permeates virtually all aspects of social life in the United States. After a nearly four-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum reopened on March 17 with updated wall texts and a newly written institutional history  posted on its website. These changes focus on the Walters and their previously undiscussed... read more



Tags : Art, Collection, Controversies, History, Museum, US