Skip to main content

OPEN TODAY
11 am – 5 pm

Modern Life: A Global Artworld, 1850-1950

An exhibition of the permanent collection at SBMA
abstract painting of a vertical object arising from a stylized landscape of similar off white color against a grey blue sky

Kay Sage, Second Song, 1943. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Gift of Estate of Kay Sage Tanguy, 1964.32

abstract painting of a vertical object arising from a stylized landscape of similar off white color against a grey blue sky
still life of a bouquet of flowers in a blue vase on a green table against a cream backdrop
depicts a busy street scene of dark greys and blues featuring someone trying to rein in horse while onlookers watch
painting featuring abstract maritime scenes in various grids and sections or blues, grays, reds, and yellows

We live with linked economies and global instantaneous communication. Change is constant. People are on the go. Modern life with its incessant movement began in the mid-19th century, as undersea telegraph cables, railroads, steamships, and colonial powers encircled the world. These same changes created a global art world with centers in cities such as Paris, Mexico City, and New York. Reflecting this internationalization, artists in this gallery come from North America, South America, and Europe. Their networks crossed continents and oceans, and these artworks grapple with and sometimes avoid the epochal changes they were living through. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has a focused but encyclopedic collection, and Modern Life uses its collection, salted with a few loans, to tell a sweeping, global story.


Image
photo of Museum interior with exhibition works on display