Overview

The BMA is proud to honor Jack Whitten, one of the most important artists of his generation, with this exhibition of his carved and assembled sculptures inspired by the materials and traditions of Africa and ancient Greece. For the first time ever, these revelatory works will be on view in Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963–2017, organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This ticketed exhibition features 40 sculptures carved from a diverse spectrum of materials—including wood, marble, copper, bone, and personal mementos—contextualized with African, Minoan, and Cycladic sculptures and other examples of objects that inspired Whitten across the years. A gallery dedicated to Whitten’s Black Monoliths, a series of paintings honoring African American figures, reveals the connection between Whitten’s paintings and his previously unknown sculptures, and marks the first time these works have been exhibited together.

This exhibition is organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by The Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation, Suzanne F. Cohen, Anonymous, Heidi and Brian Berghuis, Amy L. Gould and Matthew S. Polk, Jr., Agnes Gund, Transamerica, Guy and Nupur Parekh Flynn, LaVerna Hahn Charitable Trust, Nancy Dorman and Stan Mazaroff, Amy and Marc Meadows, Clair Zamoiski Segal, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Charitable Trust, Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown, Eileen Harris Norton Foundation, Ilene and Michael Salcman, Bank of America, and Hauser & Wirth.