Many people, not only in Santa Barbara, but also throughout California and beyond, will sorely miss Karen Sinsheimer, who died on July 28 of pancreatic cancer at age 73. As a result of her 25-year tenure as curator of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the public enjoys a legacy that’s grounded in the thousands of exemplary art works she collected there, yet transcends these images to embrace culture and humanity in the broadest sense.
With more than 120 exhibitions to her credit, including milestone explorations of California photographers, 19th-century travel photography, Hollywood studio portraiture, the intersection of photography and science, the photography of the Civil Rights era, and the emerging photographic traditions of such Pacific Rim countries as Japan, China, and South Korea, Sinsheimer consistently extended the boundaries of the curator’s art in ways that were prescient, imaginative, and socially conscious. Her acumen in discerning and cultivating new talent was legendary, as demonstrated by her early championing of such major figures as John Divola.
The roots of these achievements go deep and extend in multiple directions; every aspect of Sinsheimer’s extraordinary life led to the high degree of expertise she demonstrated in her profession. Born Karen Beatrice Keeton in Denver on April 23, 1942, she graduated from the University of Redlands with a BA in Art History. After serving in the Peace Corps in Thailand, she met and married her first husband, the photographer William Current. Together they settled in Pasadena, where they collaborated on several books of photography. As an employee of Caltech, Karen rose to become the executive secretary of the school’s president, Harold Brown. This coincided with some of the most consequential years in the history of that institution and of science in America. By the time Brown left to become Secretary of Defense, she was separated from her husband and looking for a change.