To showcase this provocative gift, queer photographers Catherine Opie and Jack Pierson are guest curating highlights from the collection for the BMA’s Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs. Waters favors works that are visually witty, abstract, and often refer to the absurdities of the art world. Observer reached out to the Baltimore Museum of Art to ask for examples of which specific artworks were being donated, and will update this post in the event of a response.John Waters’ bequest of 372 works by 125 artists brings a particular cutting-edge articulation of American individualism to the BMA’s collection, particularly as it relates to queer identity and freedom of expression.

“I want the works to go to the museum that first gave me the test of rebellion of art when I was 10 years old,” Waters told the Times.

Waters is handing over works by sophisticated artists like Diane Arbus, Cy Twombly and Christopher Wool, and he’s also giving the institution works by Catherine Opie, an artist whose work is not currently present in the Baltimore Museum of Art.

In contrast, however, many of the works he’s donating to the museum he’s been so loyal to over the years aren’t exactly reflections of his flair for cheeky vulgarity. Known in some circles as the patron saint of bad taste, Waters has always made it clear in his personal artistic output that the boundaries that differentiate “high” art and “low” art are merely suggestions to be toyed with. However, there’s also a chance that the works of art in question may also be exhibited at the museum in 2022. This drive has earned a cult status for his filmography, and it’s also enabled him to give back to his hometown of Baltimore in a very significant way: according to the New York Times, Waters has announced that he will donate 372 works of art from his personal collection to the Baltimore Museum of Art upon the event of his death. Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for RFFįilmmaker and artist John Waters has spent the entirety of his career advocating for transgression, and for pushing artistic boundaries.

John Waters at the 15th Rome Film Festival on Octoin Rome, Italy.

Baltimore museum of art john waters