Walters Art Gallery

Authors and illustrators are always wondering how to draw a reader's attention. From the early Middle Ages onward, one especially beautiful illustrational tactic was to enlarge or color the first letter of a text. A practical way to catch the reader's eye, this practice soon became a decorative pursuit in itself.A manuscript exhibit at the Walters Art Gallery, "The Illuminated Initial," gives examples of how this practice flourished. Indeed, by the 13th century these letters sometimes had grown in size to frame an entire picture on a manuscript page.

Black History FestivalAt the First Annual National Black History Festival, the only drawback may be deciding what to do once you get there.The action-packed festival, which will be held on Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. at Morgan State University's Hill Field House, features a lineup of guest speakers, dancers, arts and crafts, a cultural marketplace, ethnic foods, a talent showcase and gospel concerts, all, promoters say, "in the spirit of the Million Man...

'Barefoot in the Park' will play at Western Maryland CollegeBeginning Friday, Theatre on the Hill will present "Barefoot in the Park," Neil Simon's 1963 comedy about newlyweds living in a New York walk-up. Brian Jacobs and Bonnie Webster portray the uptight bridegroom and his free-spirited bride. Direction is by Josh Selzer.Performance dates are Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and on July 22, 23, 24 and Aug. 1, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 12. Curtain time is 7 p.m. on Sundays and 8 p.m. on all other days. Tickets are $11. Theatre on the Hill performs in Alumni Hall at Western Maryland College, 2 College Hill, Westminster.

At the beginning of "Manuscript Illumination in Flanders" at the Walters Art Gallery is a painting of a crucifixion in a Psalter of about 1300. Christ is shown on the cross between the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist, on a flat gold background with both the sun and the moon above. The event is rendered in an almost abstract, symbolic way, with no attempt to create a setting from the real world for it.Toward the end of the same show is a depiction of the flight into Egypt from a book of hours of about 1510-1520, probably from Bruges.

Sun art critic John Dorsey says he always thought of the Walters Art Gallery's collection of Asian art as "one of the great unknown collections" because only a few pieces could ever be shown; most of it has been hidden away for nearly a century. Of the 3,000 porcelains in the collection, for instance, only 45 could be on display at any one time.All that changes today with the opening of Hackerman House, the Walters' Museum of Asian Art. Like the collection, the house itself has been a hidden treasure.

From The Sun Feb. 5-11, 1845Feb. 7: The poor horses have a hard time of it now. The sleighs are continually going to the manifest injury of horse-flesh. We observe that many of the animals are so smooth shod, as scarcely to be able to get along -- we saw several fall, some under heavy loads in carts and drays. This should not be.Feb. 10: Lyford's Commercial Journal says that the Baltimore Life Insurance Company took risks on 13 persons during the month of January.From The Sun Feb. 5-11, 1895Feb.

The Women's Committee of the Walters Art Gallery presents its third annual "Art Blooms at the Walters" this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The event celebrates the beauty of works of art and flowers. Exhibits of fresh flower arrangements created by garden clubs will interpret selected works of art throughout the museum.An opening-night reception, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., will feature a preview of the floral arrangements, an auction and an appearance by the event's guest speakers. The $50-per-person admission fee also includes champagne and cocktails.

Hackerman House, the Walters Art Gallery's museum of Asian Art, has been closed temporarily to help meet demands of city budget cuts, Walters director Gary Vikan confirmed last night.The house, a separate building attached to the gallery and originally built as a 19th-century townhouse, will be closed beginning today for up to eight weeks. It will reopen no later than Sept. 21 and perhaps sooner if a Walters fund appeal succeeds."I anticipate this is eight weeks, max," said Vikan. "I hope it will be open in a couple of weeks depending on what happens.

For the past few weeks, there's been a crush of people on Centre Street waiting to get inside the Walters Art Gallery for an exhibit of medieval Russian Orthodox religious art.Most mornings this week, about 500 people have passed through the doors in the gallery's opening hour. It's not a record crowd for the museum, but it does illustrate the pull of one of downtown Baltimore's major cultural institutions."Gates of Mystery: The Art of Holy Russia" is a quintessential Walters exhibition, the kind of show synonymous with this venerable place.

At the beginning of "Manuscript Illumination in Flanders" at the Walters Art Gallery is a painting of a crucifixion in a psalter of about 1300. Christ is shown on the cross between the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist, on a flat gold background with both the sun and the moon above. The event is rendered in an almost abstract, symbolic way, with no attempt to create a setting from the real world for it.Toward the end of the same show is a depiction of the flight into Egypt from a book of hours of about 1510-1520, probably from Bruges.