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SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) has something for everyone over the next twelve months — from prints and pastel by American artist Mary Cassatt and her European contemporaries, and dramatic Pictorialist photography, to the joyful art installation and mid-career survey of FriendsWithYou and the cool and surreal paintings and drawings of the American dream by artist and actor Martin Mull.
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EXHIBITION OPENINGS
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Cassatt & Friends
September 20, 2026 – January 3, 2027
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Mary Cassatt, Reine Lefebvre and Margot, 1902. Pastel on paper mounted on canvas. 32 3/4 × 26 5/8 in. (83.2 × 67.6 cm). The Armand Hammer Collection, Gift of the Armand Hammer Foundation. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.
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Though Mary Cassatt is best known for her paintings, she was also a printmaker, and we are proud to have in the permanent collection a number of Cassatt’s printed works. Among these works is a unique type of print called a counterproof, produced by dampening a pastel drawing and pressing it on to another piece of paper, allowing the transfer of pigment to create a mirror image. The resulting print, Simone in a White Bonnet Seated with Clasped Hands (No.1), is the centerpiece of an upcoming exhibition that explores the intimate relationship between drawing and printmaking among Cassatt and her contemporaries. The techniques used in these artists’ works often hinge on the tactile; the evidence of the artist’s hand is undeniably present, a refreshing contrast to more polished mass-produced printed material of the same period. Emmons & Von Romberg Galleries.
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Stage Craft: Pictorialist Photography and Performance
October 4, 2026 – January 31, 2027
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Anne W. Brigman, The Breeze, ca. 1910. Gelatin silver print. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the SBMA Women’s Board, 1995.19.2.
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At the turn of the twentieth century, like-minded photographers known as Pictorialists challenged the notion that photography was primarily documentary or commercial, instead advocating that photographs could be fine art. They portrayed scenes from literature, classical mythology, history, or their own imaginations, employing stage-like sets and collaborating with models, actors, and dancers as if performing plays.
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In their portraits, Pictorialists rejected the straightforward clarity of commercial photo studios, opting instead for dramatic lighting, soft focus, and unconventional compositions to evoke the mood and personality of their sitters. Similarly, they imbued their landscapes and cityscapes with poetic drama through innovative camera, printing, and editing techniques. In the 1910s and 1920s, Pictorialists helped define the visual language of early cinema, while also drawing inspiration from the larger-than-life theatrics of the developing Hollywood film industry. Stage Craft illuminates how performance became critical to the Pictorialists’ revolutionary claim that photography could be art. Ala Story Gallery, Photography Gallery.Stage Craft is co-curated by Lily Allen, Guest Curator for Photography & New Media; Andrew Witte, Curatorial Assistant; and Allyson Healey, Permanent Collections Researcher.
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