Santa Barbara Museum of Art
1130 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA.
Open Tuesday-Sunday 11 am – 5 pm, Free Thursday Evening 5 – 8 pm
805.963.4364 www.sbma.net
½ Price Admission starting March 1
Exhibitions On View
Harold Edgerton, Bullet Through Balloons, 1959. Gelatin silver print. SBMA, Gift of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Foundation.
Brought to Light: Revelatory Photographs in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Collection
January 28 – April 22, 2018
This exhibition presents a non-traditional survey of the Museum’s renowned collection of nearly 8,000 photographs. Based not on chronology or theme, the exhibition seeks to reveal new insights into well-known artists’ work by featuring lesser known, even unusual, images, and recently acquired works by artists entirely new to the SBMA collection that have never before been seen in the Museum’s galleries. This extensive exhibition, one of the first of its kind at SBMA, aims to deepen and expand our audience’s perception of the SBMA’s stellar photography holdings by uncovering, like never before, fresh and intriguing perspectives on its unique character and depth.Brought to Light celebrates the art of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art as it continues its exciting multi-stage renovation project that will include permanent photography galleries for the first time in the Museum’s history. Artists will include Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Dawoud Bey, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Bevan Davies, Michael Disfarmer, Harold Edgerton, Anthony Hernandez, Barbara Kasten, Yevgeny Khaldei, Inge Morath, Gordon Parks, and Masao Yamamoto.
Pauline Auzou, Two Women Making Music, ca. 1796. Oil on Canvas. SBMA, Gift of Mrs. Hugh N. Kirkland.
Crosscurrents: The Painted Portrait in America, Britain, and France, 1750-1850
January 28 – May 27, 2018
Before the invention of photography, painted portraits were the most coveted means of commemorating important members of society. This exhibition, drawn exclusively from the permanent collection, explores the dynamic dialogue that took place over the course of around a century between American, British and French portraitists from the Colonial period through the Industrial Revolution. Despite political antipathies, whether between the Revolutionary colonialists and the British (1775–1783) or the French and the British during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), these artists maintained open channels of communication. American artists, such as Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Rembrandt Peale, and Thomas Sully traveled great distances to study abroad in Italy, often choosing to reside in London, where portraiture had gained the heights of refinement as the dominant genre of the 18th century.
Henry Collen and John Fox, Captain Augustus Richard Peers, 1841. Hand-painted salted paper print. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Cohn Acquisition Fund.
Crosscurrents: American and European Portrait Photographs, 1840-1900
January 28 – May 27, 2018
Assembling striking works from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s distinguished collection, this exhibition reveals how photographic portraiture blossomed in the later six decades of the 19th century. Originally intended to mimic the genre of portrait painting, by 1900 portrait photography had evolved to emphasize many unique and intriguing technical properties of the medium itself, with photographers persuasively arguing for photography’s status as an art form in its own right. Some of the most successful commercial photographers were trained in the fine arts, including Nadar, Roger Fenton, and Henry Collen. In fact, the cachet of early portrait photography stemmed largely from its ability to replicate the colorful effects, dignified poses, and lavish surroundings of painted portraits. As the decades unfolded and technical processes expanded, artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Steichen began to embrace a range of medium-specific possibilities, experimenting with exposure times, darkroom manipulation and even narrative allusions. Rather than constituting a freestanding genre, then, portrait photography was nourished by a constantly evolving relationship with its painted predecessor. From captivating hybrid works dating from just after the birth of photography in the late 1830s to artful Pictorialist expressions at the dawn of the 20th century, this exhibition presents a remarkable opportunity to see nearly 100 works of photographic art rarely on view, and attests to the endless fascination of the human face and form in art and in life.
Claude Monet, Villas in Bordighera, 1884. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Bequest of Katharine Dexter McCormick in memory of her husband, Stanley McCormick.
Highlights of the Permanent Collection
Ongoing
In celebration of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s 75th Anniversary in 2016, this installation highlights some of the most important works of art from SBMA’s permanent collection, as well as several of the most exciting gifts and acquisitions in the areas of modern and contemporary art, photography, and the arts of Asia.
Events
Thursdays, March 1; April 5; May 3, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Family 1st Thursdays
Bring the whole family and enjoy 1st Thursday together in SBMA’s Family Resource Center located on the Lower Level. Museum Teaching Artists assist families in creating special exhibition-based art projects. Afterwards, enjoy galleries until 8pm.
SBMA’s Family Resource Center
Free
Thursdays, March 1; April 5; May 3, 5:30 pm
Pop-Up Opera
Opera Santa Barbara returns to present crowd-pleasing pop-up performances in the Museum galleries.
Museum galleries
Free
Thursday, March 1, 7:30 pm
Catalyst Quartet
The Catalyst Quartet is comprised of top Laureates and alumni of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition, and is a returning favorite at SBMA. Known for dynamic and energetic performances, the ensemble has toured throughout the U.S. and abroad, including sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Harris Theater, the Met, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. The Catalyst program, entitled Hemispheres: North America, includes six pieces: String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11 by Samuel Barber, Valencia by Caroline Shaw, Strum by Catalyst Quartet member Jessie Montgomery, String Quartet No. 3 “Mishima” by Philip Glass, Metro Chabacano by Javier Alvarez, and Credo by Kevin Putz.
Mary Craig Auditorium
$20 SBMA Members/$25 Non-Members
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Sundays, March 11; April 8; May 13, 1:30 – 4:30 pm
Studio Sundays
Visitors of all ages are welcome to participate in this hands-on workshop with SBMA Teaching Artists. Each month explore a different medium, including clay, metal, ink, wood, photography, and paper, and gain inspiration from works of art in the Museum’s permanent collection or special exhibitions.
SBMA’s Family Resource Center
Free
Parallel Stories
Parallel Stories is a literary and performing arts series that pairs art and artists with award-winning authors and performers of regional, national, and international acclaim. This series functions as a multidisciplinary lens through which to view the Museum’s collection and special exhibitions.
Sunday, March 18, 2:30 pm
A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the “Mexican Drug War”
A Discussion with the Authors
Written together by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Mike Wallace and acclaimed novelist Carmen Boullosa—one American and the other Mexican—A Narco History reviews the interlocking 20th-century histories that produced this 21st-century calamity, and proposes how to end it. In a time when border discussions and the stories behind the drug trade inundate both pop culture and the daily news, this conversation and reading provides a portrait of corruption, loss, and shared blame. Q & A and book signing to follow
Sunday, April 15, 2:30 pm
Poetry as Portraiture: Adam Zagajewski and Andrew Winer
Prize-winning, globally-admired poet Adam Zagajewski writes with precision and wonder about the calm and courage of ordinary life. He says of poetry that it “is like a human face — it is an object that can be measured, described, catalogued, but it is also an appeal.” His most recent book, Slight Exaggeration, is a blend of memoir, essay, and anecdote, and in which he defines poetry as “a slight exaggeration, until we make ourselves at home in it. Then it becomes the truth.” Zagajewski is interviewed by fellow writer, friend, novelist, and Chair of the UC Riverside writing program Andrew Winer. Book signing to follow
Thursday, April 19, 5:30 pm
An Education in Seeing: Geoff Dyer on The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand
In his latest book, award-winning, multi-talented author, essayist, and critic Geoff Dyer shares his unorthodox insights and eye-opening responses to 100 images—both iconic and hitherto unseen—by photographer Garry Winogrand, selected from the archive at the Center for Creative Photography. Come along on this wildly original journey in the company of Dyer, whose observations, idiosyncratic energy, and clear-sighted vision animate anew Winogrand’s work. This latest book, hailed as “an inimitable combination of photographer and writer, images and text,” serves as a kind of verbal portrait of Winogrand, but perhaps says as much about the author as it does his subject. Book signing to follow
For all:
Mary Craig Auditorium
Free SBMA Members/$10 Non-Members/$6 Senior Non-Members
Reserve or purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Thursday, March 22; April 19, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Sketching in the Galleries
All skill levels are invited to experience the tradition of sketching from original works of art. Museum Teaching Artists provide general guidance and all materials. Each program is open to 10 participants.
Free
To reserve a spot, call 884.6457 or email lvallejo-howard@sbma.net.
Monday – Friday, March 26 – 30, 9 am – 3 pm
Spring Art Camp
Face to Face: Exploring Identity Through Photography and Portraiture
Ages 5 – 12
Capture the personalities of your subjects through the artist’s eye, inspired by photographs and portraits in the exhibitions Brought to Light and Crosscurrents. Translate photographs into drawings and sculptures, and explore the power of portraits across time and place.
Location: SBMA’s Ridley-Tree Education Center at McCormick House, 1600 Santa Barbara Street
$250 SBMA Members/$300 Non-Members
To register, visit www.sbma.net/kidsfamilies or contact Rachael Krieps at 884.6441 orrkrieps@sbma.net.
Tuesday, April 17, 7:30 pm
Daedalus Quartet
Praised by The New Yorker as “a fresh and vital young participant in what is a golden age of American string quartets,” the Daedalus Quartet has established itself as a leader among the new generation of string ensembles. Since winning the top prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2001, the quartet has impressed critics and audiences with the security, technical finish, interpretive unity, and sheer gusto of its performances. The group has performed in many of the world’s leading musical venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, and in international locations such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Cité de la Musique in Paris. The program includes “Harp” Quartet (Op. 74) from Beethoven’s middle period, String Quartet Op. 1, No. 3 by Haydn, and Leoš Janá cek’s String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata” (inspired by Tolstoy’s novellaThe Kreutzer Sonata, which was inspired by Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9).
Mary Craig Auditorium
$20 SBMA Members/$25 Non-Members
Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Friday, April 27, 5 – 8 pm
Art of the Table
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art Women’s Board presents Art of the Table! Ten designers of local and national acclaim will create dramatic and imaginative tablescapes inspired from the Museum’s permanent collection. Meet the designers and delight in their artistry. Enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres while supporting the Museum. Tablescapes will be on view to the public on April 28 and 29.
For more information, call 884.6428 or visit sbmawb.org.
Thursday, May 3, 6:30 – 7 pm
Quire of Voyces Short Program
The Santa Barbara Quire of Voyces returns to SBMA to perform short programs of choral music. The group was founded in 1993 to rediscover the sacred a capella choral music of the Renaissance and the modern age.
Mary Craig Auditorium
Free
Space is limited. First come, first-served
Thursday, May 10, 5:30 – 7 pm
Curator’s Choice Lecture: Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith speaks about her distinguished and esteemed career as co-chief art critic of The New York Times, which she has written for since 1986. One of America’s best known critics, Smith’s works include numerous reviews for other publications such as Artforum, Art in America, and theVillage Voice; as well as essays for catalogues and monographs, including the featured essay in the Donald Judd Catalogue Raisonné. In 2003, she was the recipient of the Frank Jewett Mather Award from the College Art Association (CAA).
Mary Craig Auditorium
Free
Reserve tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Thursday, May 17, 5:30 – 7 pm
Conversation and Book Signing with Colin Gardner and Michael Imperioli
Actor, writer, and Santa Barbara resident, Michael Imperioli, discusses his new book and first novelThe Perfume Burned His Eyes with Colin Gardner, Professor of Critical Theory and Integrative Studies at UCSB. Called by Joyce Carol Oates “a vividly imagined and compelling story,” this sympathetic coming of age narrative brings together fathers, sons, Lou Reed, first love, and the strange and sometime agony of being a teenager.
Book signing to follow in Museum Store
Mary Craig Auditorium
Free
Reserve tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desk or online at tickets.sbma.net.