This fall, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art unveils a new collection and opens its doors to a series of events and performances.
The new exhibit features photographs from the museum’s permanent collection and focuses on life in Latin America from a local’s perspective.
Ongoing exhibits showcase paintings and photographic images from the Bauhaus movement, 20th-century Japanese woodblock prints and French impressionist art.
Exhibition Opening
Looking In, Looking Out: Latin American Photography
Oct. 18, 2015–Feb. 14, 2016
The scenes of Latin American culture, politics, environments and individuals are explored in depth in Looking In, Looking Out: Latin American Photography.
This exhibition, drawn from the permanent collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, highlights works by Latin American photographers or artists who have adopted the region as home, so that those from outside the region may look into the lives of Latin America.
Through the lens of nostalgia, propaganda, a populist aesthetic and changing perspectives, the iconic and emerging photographers illustrate the diverse but often similar spirits of countries in the region.
Artworks from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico and other nations demonstrate the experiences and traditions of diverse cultures in Latin America as the photographers explore their history, navigate the present and look to the future.
Rather than a survey exhibition of photographs from each country, the images selected are singular views exhibited to engage viewers in the dynamic complexities and universality of Latin American life.
The photographers capture their homes for their people, but if the outsider immerses the mind in the region one gets a fascinating glimpse into Latin America.
Looking In, Looking Out: Latin American Photography reveals the sensitive and intimate relationship between photographer and home country.
Exhibitions on View
The Paintings of Moholy-Nagy: The Shape of Things to Come
July 5–Sep. 27, 2015
Organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, this exhibition is the first to explore how the practice of painting served as the means for the artist to imagine generative relationships between art and technology.
László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) is now recognized as one of the most influential members of the Bauhaus.
While his legacy for later-20th-century art is typically linked to the photogram (a type of cameraless photography), the driving force behind this presentation is the relatively under-recognized role of the more traditional medium of painting throughout Moholy’s career, which is explored in a selection of 33 works of art ranging in date from the 1920s to 1940s, including paintings, works on paper, photograms, video projections and a facsimile replica of Moholy’s prescient Light Prop ― one of the first kinetic sculptures of its kind.
The installation also includes a Kodachrome slide set (the latest in color photography innovation at the time), which comprises 12 luminous images.
Guest curated by art historian Joyce Tsai (University of Florida, Gainesville), the exhibition is organized chronologically and thematically and is accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, distributed by Yale University Press.
The presentation also includes educational interactives, related programming and an unprecedented installation by high-end designer Alex Rasmussen of Neal Feay.
The exhibition was made possible through the generous support of the Tom and Charlene Marsh Family Foundation, Cecille Pulitzer, SBMA Women’s Board, an anonymous donor, Marcia and John Mike Cohen, Dead Artists Society, Susan Bowey, Gregg Wilson and John Maienza, The David Bermant Foundation and The Moholy-Nagy Foundation.
The Visionary Photomontages of Herbert Bayer, 1929-1936
Ongoing
The Visionary Photomontages of Herbert Bayer, 1929–1936, a selection of 12 photographs by Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer (1900–1985), are exhibited in tandem with the international loan exhibition The Paintings of Moholy-Nagy: The Shape of Things to Come.
Influenced by the photographic works of László Moholy-Nagy and the modernist Bauhaus credo — “there is no one true art form but rather an intersection of all art in pursuit of an idea” — Bayer’s work as a photographer reflects his mastery of graphic design.
Made in Berlin as Weimar culture faded and Hitler rose to power, the exhibited photomontages grapple with the tumultuous modern world as the artist experienced it between the years 1929 and 1936.
A testament to Bayer’s wit and life experiences, these dreamlike photomontages harness the clinical detachment of the Bauhaus to create disturbing images that unveil primal scenes of forbidden desire and the dilemmas posed by individual but also national identity.
In his abstract, often playful rearrangement of photographic fragments, Bayer reanimates fantasies from memory, history, nature and Germanic identity.
Visions of Modernity: 20th-Century Japanese Woodblock Prints
Ongoing
Presented in a series of rotations, Visions of Modernity explores the burst of creativity in 20th-century Japanese printmaking.
During this time, artists experimented with Western artistic concepts and techniques such as linear perspective and naturalism in an effort to find new modes of expression befitting of the “modern” time.
Two printmaking movements emerged, shin-hanga (new prints) and sōsaku-hanga (creative prints), that were to have a lasting effect on the future course of graphic art in Japan.
The second installment of this exhibition focuses on the work of notable shin-hanga and sōsaku-hanga artists from the permanent collection.
While shin-hanga artists continued to depict subjects that were central to the previous ukiyo-e (floating world) tradition, they infused the “new prints” with a fresh juxtaposition of colors and heightened sense of naturalism.
These prints, created in the collaborative workshop, revitalized the waning printmaking industry and further attracted the attention of a growing Western audience.
Sōsaku-hanga prints, on the other hand, emerged among a group of artists who embraced the notion of the artist as an individual and hailed freedom of expression.
They asserted their newfound creative independence by designing, carving and producing their own prints from start to finish — breaking with the time-honored collaborative process of printmaking in Japan.
Degas to Chagall: Important Loans from The Armand Hammer Foundation
Ongoing
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is delighted to present a selection of important paintings that are on extended loan by The Armand Hammer Foundation.
The mandate of the foundation is to share an extraordinary collection of works bequeathed by its founder with the public by lending to museums throughout the country.
The paintings on view from The Armand Hammer Foundation represent just a small fraction of the ravishing collection put together by Dr. Armand Hammer (1898–1990), perhaps best known for the extraordinary works of art he donated to his namesake institution, the Hammer Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1965 through 1990.
These works complement seamlessly our Museum’s rich holdings in the areas of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.
Artists represented include Pierre Bonnard, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Marc Chagall, Edgar Degas, Henri Fantin-Latour, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro and Auguste Renoir.
Events
Family 1st Thursdays
Thursdays, Sep. 3; Oct. 1; Nov. 5, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Bring the whole family and enjoy 1st Thursday together in SBMA’s Family Resource Center located across from the Museum Café on the Lower Level.
Museum teaching artists will assist families in creating special exhibition-based art projects. Afterwards, enjoy galleries until 8 p.m. These events are free.
On Sep. 3 design your own version of Bayer’s Lonely Metropolitan (1932) in shades of black, white and grey by sketching hands-on mid-tone paper in graphite and white pastel, then collaging them onto to an urban landscape.
Study the complex details of flowers up close by sketching from botanical arrangements on Oct. 1. Add color to the composition with water-soluble oil pastels mixed with tempera paint, inspired by Henri Fantin-Latour’s Chrysanthemums of Summer (Chrysanthemes d’Ete) (ca. 1887).
On Nov. 5, focus in on the details of Raul Corrales’ Blue Jeans, Cuba (1948) to create an abstract texture study by layering canvas strips and opaque watercolors.
Studio Sundays on the Front Steps
Sundays, Sep. 13; Oct. 11; Nov. 8, 1:30–4:30 p.m.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to participate in these free, hands-on workshops with SBMA teaching artists on the Museum’s front steps. 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.
Create a mixed media assemblage with found objects, sculpted clay forms and details from Hebert Bayer’s black-and-white photograph Shortly Before Dawn (1936) on Sep. 13.
On Oct. 11, capture a figure in motion in chalk pastel on mid-tone paper inspired by Edgar Degas’ Laundress Carrying Linen (ca. 1882–1892).
Reimagine Flor Garduño’s Basket of Light (1989) as a triptych by adding color and words to the images on Nov. 8.
David Tanenbaum and Peppino D’Agostino
Thursday, Sep. 17, 7:30 p.m.
Peppino D’Agostino is a well-known soloist on the acoustic steel-string guitar who is praised throughout the world as a master of his genre. D’Agostino emerged on the musical scene in the late 1980s and since his debut recording in 1981 has performed in more than 26 countries.
He is becoming better known in the classical guitar world because of his collaborations with David Tanenbaum, an admired classical guitarist who has performed throughout North America, Europe, Australia, the former Soviet Union and Asia. Tanenbaum has been a soloist with numerous companies, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, and is currently Chair of the Guitar Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
The performance will take place in Mary Craig Auditorium. Tickets cost $18 for SBMA members and $22 for non-members. Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.
Día de los Muertos Free Family Day
Sunday, Oct. 25, 1–4 p.m.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art honors the Mexican tradition of remembering the dead with a variety of family festivities in the galleries, front steps and back plaza, including music by Conjunto Jardin, dance performances by Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcóatl, art-making activities, bilingual storytelling, a special display of altars created by school and community groups and traditional refreshments.
Catalyst Quartet
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.
The Catalyst Quartet, prize winners of the Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Award 2012 (Switzerland) comprises top Laureates and alumni of the internationally-acclaimed Sphinx Competition: violinists Karla Donehew-Perez and Jessie Montgomery, violist Paul Laraia, and cellist Karlos Rodriguez.
The quartet has participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Grand Canyon Music Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and been featured in The Strad and Strings magazines, as well as multiple radio and television broadcasts.
The performance will take place in Mary Craig Auditorium. Tickets cost $18 for SBMA members and $22 for non-members. Purchase tickets at the Museum Visitor Services desks or online at tickets.sbma.net.
The museum is located at 1130 State Street in Santa Barbara. It is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entrance costs $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and students with ID and children ages 6–17.
For more information, call 805.963.4364 or visit www.sbma.net.
— Katrina Carl represents the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.