1999 Exhibitions


Toujours Paris: Photographs of Paris
December 4, 1999 - February 6, 2000

Comprising approximately 50 works, this installation showcases recent acquisitions of the permanent collection of photographs of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. A photographic portrait of the City of Light in which the works range from 1850 to contemporary. The show spans nearly 150 years of Parisian images beginning with the documentation of the changing face of the city during the Second Empire, to the pre-World War I scenes of Parisian street life, and contemporary images of Paris.

The Jefferson Suites: An Audio-Visual Installation by Carrie Mae Weems
November 27, 1999 - February 6, 2000

The concept of this installation piece by noted contemporary artist, Carrie Mae Weems, is based on DNA, the relationship between science and art, and the profound impact that scientific research will have on each of our lives as we enter the new millennium. In a series of thirteen interlocking and interrelated narratives, 13 photographs and a 13-minute original musical score. Weems invites us to consider the moral, social and political implications of the new science.

Copywork: The Dictionary Pages and Other Diversions by Gilles Barbier
November 6, 1999 - January 30, 2000

Since 1993, the contemporary French artist Gilles Barbier has been slowly copying by hand pages from an illustrated Petit Larousse dictionary published in 1965, the year of his birth. Using ink and gouache, he transcribes, in minute detail, original printed pages of this reference book to large sheets of square paper (84.6 x 84.6 in.). In these conceptually and visually dense works, which comprise The Dictionary Pages project, Barbier addresses key concerns in contemporary art, among them: what is the role of the artist in present-day society?; What constitutes an artwork?; What is originality in contemporary art?; Is developing and maintaining an artistic "viewpoint" still a valid pursuit?; What does artistic progress mean today? In this first United States showing of Barbier's work, the exhibition will also feature a three-dimensional circulation model installation, by the artist, inspired by "The Dictionary Pages." This exhibition has been made possible by support from the Grace Jones Richardson Trust.. This exhibition is part of Côte Ouest: A Season of French Contemporary Art, and has also received support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Association Française d'Action Artistique and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, and Etant donnés -The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art.

Ancient Gold: Jewelry from the Dallas Museum of Art
November 6, 1999 - January 30,2000

The Dallas Museum of Art collection of Mediterranean gold represents a historically wide-ranging group of ancient jewelry and is one of the finest such collections in the United States. The gold collection is especially notable for its excellent coverage of historical types from the critical periods of Greek and Etruscan jewelry. A comparable range of material comes from the Etruscan cities of central Italy, where master goldsmiths employed some of the most intricate techniques ever used in jewelry making. Many of the pieces come from South Italy, the wealthy world of 9th century B.C Magna Greacia. Later examples in the collection, both Hellenistic and Roman, display the coloristic taste of the time in combining gold work with gemstones and pearls. Most of the techniques used in ancient jewelry making are exemplified in the collection, revealing the extreme finesse mastered by these ancient artists. Sponsored, in part, by Barbara Bakewell.

Abstraction and Expression in Chinese Calligraphy
September 18- November 21, 1999

In China, calligraphy is the most revered art, uniting language and aesthetics, and reaffirming traditional forms while fostering individual creativity. But for Westerners, calligraphy has often been the most difficult Chinese art form to comprehend. Organized by the China Institute Gallery of New York, this exhibition presents 30 works of calligraphy spanning from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) to the present day. Drawn from the collections of H. Christopher Luce, this unique exhibition is an exploration of the unintended similarities between modern Western art and Chinese calligraphy. Many Chinese characters are pictographs, simplified depictions of objects that appear abstract to the Western eye. Resonating with art of the modern day, particularly the work of artists Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Joan Miro, and Brice Marden, calligraphic art suggests a similar aesthetic pleasure shared by artists of different times and different cultures. Photographic enlargements of individual characters allow visitors to focus on the beauty, passion and humor of the Chinese as they used writing as a vehicle for personal expression.

The Cecil Family Collects: Four Centuries of Decorative Arts
August 3 - October 10, 1999

Home of the Cecil family since 1577, Burghley House is the grandest Elizabethan house in England still inhabited by direct descendants. Featuring approximately 120 exquisitely crafted works, the exhibition documents the evolution of taste and collecting in Britain over the course of four centuries, highlighting in particular the arts of the 17th century. With ownership passing from father to son until well into the 20th century, the collections at Burghley House represent a trove of diverse riches. Filled with extraordinary furniture, tapestries, frescoes, beautiful paintings, mosaics, rare Asian porcelain, exquisite sculpture and decorative objects, Burghley House references the splendors of great residences of Italy and France. Remarkably, the contents of the house have remained basically unchanged to the present day, making it one of the least disturbed collections in Britain. This exhibition offers American audiences an unparalleled opportunity to discover one of the oldest and most complete collections in Great Britain, and to explore the collecting habits of the English aristocracy across nine generations. This exhibition has been organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia. Support has been provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council of the Arts and the Humanities. In Santa Barbara, the exhibition has been made possible through the generosity of Lord and Lady Ridley-Tree, with additional support provided by Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, the Elizabeth Firth Wade Endowment Fund, and the SBMA Women’s Board.

Drawn from Life: Early Works by Rico Lebrun, Howard Warshaw, and Channing Peake
September 4 through November 21, 1999

"Drawn From Life" shows the varied ways in which three California artists deal with subjects including machinery, animals, and their own self-portraits. Lebrun, the eldest, was an artist-in-residence at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 1947, and a number of works in the Museum's collection date to that period. Peake worked with Lebrun on mural projects in New York and owned the Santa Ynez ranch that was a source of the subjects for many of the artists' paintings and drawings. Warshaw, who with Channing Peake created the mural in the lobby of the Santa Barbara Public Library, was a powerful force during his lifetime and achieved a lasting influence through his teaching at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

An Eclectic Focus: Photographs from the Vernon Collection
June 26 – September 5, 1999.
Known throughout the country as one of the finest photographic collections, the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon collection is comprised of nearly 5000 works, which span the history of photography.

“An Eclectic Focus: Photographs from the Vernon Collection” is a selection of 150 prints that was chosen and coordinated by Curator of Photography, Karen Sinsheimer. The hope had been to present this exhibition in celebration of the Vernons and their contribution to the medium, but sadly Marjorie Vernon passed away on November 22, 1998. Thus this timely exhibition will be both in praise and remembrance.

An Eclectic Focus offers the viewer a glimpse into Leonard and Marjorie Vernons' remarkable photographic collection. Drawn from nearly 5,000 works that comprise the Vernon holdings, the one-hundred-fifty photographs in this exhibition span the history of the medium and cover a vast range of subjects. Familiar names and well-known images affirm the Vernons' prescence in their collecting choices, but equally important to them and to this exhibition are the works of unknown practitioners and rarely seen images. The photographs in An Eclectic Focus range in scale and tonality from intimate calotypes by Henry Fox Talbot to a mural-size Ansel Adams black-and-white image of aspens, and large-format color work by Barbara Kasten and Stephane Couturier.

The Vernons began collecting photographs in the mid-seventies when, literally, a handful of galleries and dealers, who worked exclusively with photographic materials, existed. From the moment they purchased their first photograph-a Heinrich Kuehn portrait of a young child-the love affair with photographic imagery began. From the selection of every print to the desire to share their collection with students, scholars, and artists, the Vernons were united in their passionate enthusiasm for the medium.

A critical and unifying theme that runs through this collection is the aesthetic focus that the Vernons shared, based on the power of the image itself. Their great eye for abstraction and the graphic qualities of the photographic print are always apparent. When asked what they sought after in their collecting, Mr. Vernon simply responds "beauty." Julia Margaret Cameron's "Days at Freshwater"