Modern Life: A Global Artworld, 1850-1950

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.

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Summer Sets/Summer Steps: Art, Dance, and Music

Sunday, July 6, 2025 | 5 – 6 pm
Front Terrace, SBMA

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Come early and enjoy the galleries then step outside for a summer night of jazz and dance on the Museum’s Front Terrace. Inspired by the exhibition Modern Life: A Global Artworld, 1850 – 1950 and performed by two-time Grammy Award winner Ted Nash and internationally known choreographer and dancer Vanessa Isaac, responding with music and motion to works by Wifredo Lam, Georgia O’Keeffe and other muses of the modern.

Local drummer Ed Smith, Los Angeles-based bassist Trey Henry, and guitarist Anthony Wilson will perform with saxophonist and composer Ted Nash.

This performance has been made possible through the generosity of Starr Siegele.

Free