Baltimore Museum of Art Exhibition Tours: Amy Sherald: American Sublime and The Way of Nature: Art from Japan, China, and Korea 

Wednesday, November 12  

“American Sublime is a salve. It’s a call to remember our shared humanity  
and an insistence on being seen.”—Amy Sherald 

Join your WNDC friends on November 12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art for an exhibition of 40 portraits by Amy Sherald, who famously painted First Lady Michelle Obama for the National Portrait Gallery. Widely hailed as a defining voice of her generation, Sherald has transformed American portraiture.  

As the Whitney Museum of Art noted in hosting this exhibition last summer, “while Sherald bases her works on specific people, they are more than traditional portraits. They center on everyday Black Americans, compelling in their individuality and extraordinary in their ordinariness, inviting viewers to step into Sherald’s imagined worlds.” 

As a bonus, Frances Klapthor, the museum’s associate curator of Asian Art, is offering a special morning tour for our group, including the Asian permanent collection galleries and the Way of Nature exhibition of East Asian art. This exhibition boasts more than 40 objects—from magnificent ink drawings to beautifully crafted stoneware and poignant contemporary photographs and prints.  

We will travel individually or in their own groups by train or car to Baltimore, where the museum opens at 10 a.m. (Following registration, WNDC will assist interested attendees in forming carpools.) Participants will return home at their leisure; the museum is open until 5 p.m. 

• At 10 a.m., Frances Klapthor will welcome interested members of our group to the Asian permanent collection galleries and the Way of Nature exhibition of East Asian art. All attendees may enjoy the museum’s rich collection of ancient art of the Americas, Native North American art, and the world-renowned Cone Collection, which includes works by Matisse, Picasso, and Degas.   

• At noon, our group will meet for lunch at the museum’s restaurant, Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen. A reservation has been made for the group, but we will each order and pay for lunch individually.  

• At 2 p.m., together we will view the exhibition Amy Sherald: American Sublime, which includes Michelle Obama’s portrait as well as “Trans Forming Liberty.” This portrait of a transgender Statue of Liberty gained national notoriety when the National Portrait Gallery considered removing it from Sherald’s planned solo exhibition to avoid provoking President Trump—spurring Sherald to withdraw the show.  

Event Details: 

$20.00 for members and $25 for non-members includes the exhibition ticket. Details about train schedules from DC’s Union Station to the Baltimore’s Penn Station as well as carpooling possibilities will be available upon registration.  

For non-member event reservations: please email pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org or telephone 202-232-7363 Ext. 402 (voicemails will also be accepted).