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Childe Hassam, The Manhattan Club, n.d. (ca. 1891). Oil on canvas. SBMA, Gift of Mrs. Sterling Morton to the Preston Morton Collection. |
Scenery, Story, Spirit: American Painting and Sculpture from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Ongoing
Between the 1830s and the end of the First World War, American art came into its own. From the majestic Hudson River School paintings of Thomas Cole, John Kensett, and Albert Bierstadt to the gritty urban realism of Robert Henri and John Sloan, this presentation draws on the rich holdings of American paintings and sculptures in the collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Organized by guest curator Peter John Brownlee, this selection highlights the maturation of a distinctly American idiom, one informed by international currents and engaged with capturing the fluxes of modern life. Masterpieces of landscape, genre, still-life, and portraiture, punctuated by a selection of sculptures, trace an evolution in style from an art driven by the mandates of westward expansion to one animated by experimentation. In both idealized and naturalistically rendered landscapes, in scenes of everyday life, or meticulously detailed images of everyday objects, the presentation also narrates an important chapter in American cultural history that witnessed the Civil War and its aftermath, the expansion of national boundaries and the closing of the western frontier, and the transformations wrought by the emergence of new technologies at the dawn of the 20th century.
For more information about this exhibition visit our blog at blog.sbma.net
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John George Brown, Pull for the Shore, n.d. Oil on canvas. Gifts from the Estate of Mrs. Stanley McCormick, Norman Hirschl and the American Federation of Arts to the Preston Morton Collection by exchange.
Thursday, May 17, 5:30 pm
Peter John Brownlee, PhD., Associate Curator, Terra Foundation for American Art highlights particular trends in painting and sculpture of the United States made during the century extending from the Second Great Awakening of the early 1800s to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Exploring the cultural contexts in which American art evolved during this period, the lecture touches on key historical developments as addressed in landscape, genre, still-life, and portrait paintings, as well as in selected sculptures, currently on view in Scenery, Story Spirit: American Painting and Sculpture from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
 Mary Craig Auditorium
Free for SBMA Members/Regular admission for Non-Members
Curator's Choice is an innovative lecture series featuring prominent speakers hand-picked by the Museum's curators. Distinguished experts offer fresh perspectives on the visual arts and provide stimulating opportunities for discovery to adults in the Santa Barbara community. This Curator's Choice lecture is sponsored by the curatorial support group, Dead Artists Society.
Enjoy a free Guide by Cell audio tour of selected highlights of the exhibition using your cell phone. Listen to a selected group of artists, writers, and others offering their personal insights of the selected works in this exhibition. Details are in the Museum galleries.
With admission to SBMA, you are always invited to participate in a free docent-led gallery tour, which begins every day at noon in the lobby at the State Street entrance. The following tours focus on this exhibition:
May - 18, 23, 31 at noon
June - 3, 9, 15, 21, 24 at noon
July - 3, 11, 15, 20, 28 at noon
August - 2, 10, 14, 19, 25, 29 at noon
September - 4, 12, 16, 22, 27 at noon
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