On January 27, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art held a preview reception for not one, but three new exhibit openings: Brought to Light: Revelatory Photographs in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Collection, Crosscurrents: The Painted Portrait in America, Britain, and France, 1750-1850, and Crosscurrents: American and European Portrait Photographs, 1840-1900.
An exclusive VIP reception for major donors, trustees, and other special guests was followed by a reception for all museum members, which together drew about 375 guests. Curious guests eagerly checked out the sprawling, interesting exhibits while mingling and enjoying drinks and appetizers.
In the short program, Director and CEO Larry Feinberg welcomed the guests and introduced the “man of the hour,” Curator of Photography and New Media Charles Wylie, who curated the Brought to Light exhibit. Wylie shared how this was his largest exhibit to date and thanked the donors who made the exhibit possible, including Joan Almond, who has donated 66 works to the museum, a handful of which are in the current exhibit. Wylie explained that the exhibit shows unusual examples of artists whom we think we might know very well and works, both new to the collection and older ones, that have not been seen before. To create the exhibit of 60 photographs, Wylie culled through the museum’s collection of nearly 8,000 photos. By showing lesser-known and unusual images of artists, the exhibit seeks to reveal new insights into the artists’ work.