Baltimore Museum of Art to Open Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies in 2021

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will inaugurate the Ruth R. Marder Center for Matisse Studies in 2021, a research center dedicated to Henri Matisse. The center is funded by a $5 million donation from the Ruth Carol Fund, a private foundation founded by philanthropist Ruth R. Marder, who has long supported the BMA and other cultural institutions in Baltimore. The BMA holds the world's largest collection of Matisse works, with over 1,200 pieces including paintings, sculptures, drawings, illustrated books, and prints. The collection originated from the Cone sisters, Claribel and Etta, who donated 500 works in 1949, and has since grown with over 700 pieces from the Matisse family, including works from the artist's daughter Marguerite Duthuit and prints from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation in New York. The center will be located on the museum's first floor and directed by Jay McKean Fisher, a BMA curator of 44 years who co-organized major Matisse exhibitions. The center will host conferences, support archival research, and develop exhibition programs to foster scholarship on Matisse's influence on modern and contemporary art. BMA director Christopher Bedford stated that the center will create new opportunities to engage audiences and stimulate debate.