The Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s new exhibition commemorates F. Bailey Vanderhoef Jr. and “A Tibet Expedition 1938 — The Adventure of a Lifetime.” It will run through Aug. 17.
In June 1938, two young Americans, Vanderhoef and Wilbur L. Cummings Jr., set off on an expedition into Tibet. Leaving from the Indian hill station of Kalim-pong, they crossed the Himalay-as, with their principal goal of documenting the religious art and the famous “lama dances” in Gyantse in western Tibet.
The paintings, sculpture and ritual objects brought back from their Tibet trip were donated to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 1954 and 1991 by the Cummings family and Bailey Vanderhoef, and they now form the core of the museum’s Tibetan art collection.
This exhibition commemorates the adventurers and their gifts in the context of their journey.
On the occasion of the museum’s 50th anniversary in 1991, Vanderhoef made a gift of 108 Asian objects from his personal collection, representing the single largest donation of Asian art in the museum’s history.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, at 1130 State St. in Santa Barbara, is open fronm 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free every Sunday.
For more information, call 963-4364 or visit
www.sbma.net.
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