In return, the museum board said it would name two restrooms and a rotunda in the European art galleries after him.

That will make the BMA the greatest single repository of his work and will enable it to provide, in perpetuity, a comprehensive view of Waters’ vision and approach. Waters also donated 87 prints, sculptures, mixed-media, and video pieces he created.

In addition to Twombly, Sherman, and Warhol, the collection contains works by Diane Arbus, Roy Lichtenstein, Thomas Demand, Nan Goldin, Catherine Opie, Richard Prince, and Christopher Wool, among others. The gift includes approximately 375 works by more than 125 artists, with 288 works by artists other than Waters. He’s also a visual artist, the subject of a recent retrospective entitled John Waters: Indecent Exposure at the BMA and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Though he’s perhaps best known for films such as Hairspray and Pink Flamingos, bestsellers such as Role Models and Carsick, and nicknames such as “The Pope of Trash” and “The Prince of Puke,” Waters, 74, has been collecting fine art for more than five decades. Known for being fiercely loyal to his hometown of Baltimore (he has filmed seventeen movies there), Waters announced his decision this month. “It means more if you leave it to the Baltimore Museum of Art than it might if you left it to the obvious bigger ones,” he said. This week, he spoke to Art & Object about this decision and what it means to him.īesides being grateful to the Baltimore museum that sparked his love of art and supported his work over the years, Waters said, he hopes to encourage other collectors to think about giving their best pieces to their hometown museums, the places that potentially stand to benefit the most from their foresight and generosity.

As the owner of contemporary art by luminaries such as Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol, Baltimore-based writer and filmmaker John Waters might have considered offering his collection to a large national museum because of its prestige, reputation, and attendance.īut Waters decided to give his collection to a hometown institution, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), when he passes away.

Art by John Waters