Modern Life: A Global Artworld, 1850-1950

Joaquín Torres-García, Composition, 1932. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the 20th c. Art Acquisition and Endowment Funds, the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, Jon B. and Lillian Lovelace, and Les and Zora Charles, 1997.69.

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

Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Jarrón azul de flores (Old Fashioned Bouquet), ca. 1935. Oil on cardboard. SBMA, Gift of P.D. McMillan Land Company, 1963.26.

George Bellows, Steaming Streets, March 1908. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Gift of Mrs. Sterling Morton for the Preston Morton Collection, 1960.50.

Joaquín Torres-García, Composition, 1932. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the 20th c. Art Acquisition and Endowment Funds, the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, Jon B. and Lillian Lovelace, and Les and Zora Charles, 1997.69.

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

Alfredo Ramos Martínez, Jarrón azul de flores (Old Fashioned Bouquet), ca. 1935. Oil on cardboard. SBMA, Gift of P.D. McMillan Land Company, 1963.26.

George Bellows, Steaming Streets, March 1908. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Gift of Mrs. Sterling Morton for the Preston Morton Collection, 1960.50.

Joaquín Torres-García, Composition, 1932. Oil on canvas. SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided by the 20th c. Art Acquisition and Endowment Funds, the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, Jon B. and Lillian Lovelace, and Les and Zora Charles, 1997.69.




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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