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Exhibitions |
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May 23, 2012 |
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The Life of Art: Context, Collecting, and Display
Daily
South Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
From the time an object is made until the day it enters a museum's collection, it may be displayed, used, and perceived in different ways. The Life of Art takes selected objects from the Getty Museum's galleries and encourages visitors to sit down and spend time with them, offering the opportunity to examine them closely to understand how they were made and functioned, why they were collected, and how they have been displayed. Through careful looking, what may be learned about the maker and previous owners of a French gilt-bronze wall light, for example, or the transformation in England of a Chinese porcelain bowl? Close engagement reveals the full lives of these works and why they continue to be collected and cherished today.
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Renaissance Drawings from Germany and Switzerland, 1470–1600
Daily through June 17, 2012
West Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
The period of 1470–1600 represents one of the high points in German art, spanning the careers of artists such as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, and Hans Holbein the Younger. Because different styles of drawing developed in the various regions of present-day Germany and Switzerland, this exhibition of works from the Getty Museum's permanent collection is organized by region—the Middle and Upper Rhine, Switzerland, Nuremberg, and Saxony. The exhibition explores the drawings' wide range of functions and captivating subject matter, including mercenary soldiers and scenes of courtly love. It also presents important new scholarship in the field that has been accomplished during the past decades.
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Portraits of Renown: Photography and the Cult of Celebrity
Daily through August 26, 2012
West Pavilion, Terrace Level, Getty Center
Photography's remarkable propensity to shape visual identities has made it the leading vehicle for representing the famous. Soon after photography was invented in the 1830s, it was used to capture the likenesses and accomplishments of great men and women, gradually supplanting other forms of commemoration. In the twentieth century, the proliferation of photography and the transformative power of fame have helped to accelerate the desire for photographs of celebrities in magazines, newspapers, advertisements, and on the Internet. Drawn from the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection, the exhibition surveys some of the visual strategies used by photographers to picture the famous from the 1840s to the year 2000.
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In Focus: Picturing Landscape
Daily through October 7, 2012
West Pavilion, Terrace Level, Getty Center
Nature's challenge to photographers is the theme of this second exhibition on landscape in the Getty Museum's In Focus series. Comprising approximately twenty works from the permanent collection, it looks at the various ways that photographers have responded to the test of depicting the breadth and perspective of a natural landscape through a camera lens. From the pre-photographic drawings made with the aid of a camera lucida to more recent advances in digital technology, the exhibition touches on a range of technical and artistic explorations by figures such as John Beasly Greene, Imogen Cunningham, Harry Callahan, and William Garnett.
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Herb Ritts: L.A. Style
Daily through August 26, 2012
West Pavilion, Lower Level, Getty Center
Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) was a Los Angeles-based photographer who established an international reputation for his distinctive photographs of fashion models, nudes, and celebrities. From the late 1970s until his untimely death from AIDS in 2002, Ritts's ability to create photographs that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce was not only a testament to the power of his imagination and technical skill but also marked the synergy between art, popular culture, and business that followed in the wake of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This exhibition features a selection of Ritts's vintage prints, magazine covers, Polaroids, and commercial video projects.
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The Getty Research Institute: Recent Print Acquisitions
Daily through September 2, 2012
Research Institute Exhibition Gallery, Getty Center
Representing some of the finest works from the beginning of the 1500s through the late 1900s, this exhibition features recently acquired masterpieces, including Albrecht Dürer's classically inspired suite, Life of the Virgin, and his exquisite etching, Desperate Man. Piranesi's first edition Prisons present the kind of technical and formal innovations that have captivated print collectors, writers, and artists for 250 years; the Getty Research Institute's copy is an exciting discovery in a unique state of preservation. Besides highlighting collection strengths such as artist portraits and landscapes, the exhibition also features Karl Friederich Schinkel's designs for Mozart's operas, and a monumental 12-plate reproductive print after the Last Judgment by the so-called French Michelangelo, Jean Cousin.
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May 29, 2012 |
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Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages
Daily, May 29 - August 12, 2012
North Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
Throughout the Middle Ages, death and the afterlife were stirring subjects that challenged and inspired the creativity of the artists who illuminated manuscripts. Delightful and disturbing visions of heaven and hell fueled the viewers' imaginations. Books adorned with depictions of God's mercy, saved souls in paradise, and the rewards of the blessed instilled hope, while morbid and sometimes horrific illustrations of funerals, demons, and the punishment of the wicked prompted pious Christians to repent for their sins. At the core of visual devotion stood images of Christ's Passion and crucifixion, promising resurrection and eternal life.
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June 5, 2012 |
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Drama and Devotion: Heemskerck's "Ecce Homo" Altarpiece from Warsaw
Daily, June 5, 2012 - January 13, 2013
North Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
One of the most admired Netherlandish painters of the sixteenth century, Maerten van Heemskerck (1498–1574) worked in an expressive style influenced by his exposure to the work of contemporary Italian painters, particularly Michelangelo. His dramatic Ecce Homo (1544) altarpiece from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland, on view to the public for the first time following conservation and study at the Getty Museum, offers a rare opportunity to experience a complete triptych by this Renaissance master. The exhibition provides insight into Heemskerck's materials and expedient technique and elaborates on the original location of the altarpiece in Dordrecht. Supported by the Getty Museum Paintings Conservation Council, this event also marks the 150th anniversary of the National Museum. The accompanying catalogue, beautifully illustrated with numerous color images, contains insightful essays on the artist and the creation and conservation of the altarpiece.
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July 3, 2012 |
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Gustav Klimt: The Magic of Line
Daily, July 3 - September 23, 2012
Exhibitions Pavilion, Getty Center
This retrospective is the first fully dedicated to the drawings of Gustav Klimt (1862—1918), one of the seminal figures in modern art. It explores the stylistic evolution of his drawings as well as their centrality to his artistic enterprise. Indeed, Klimt's paintings cannot be understood without careful consideration of his drawings, which also play a semi-autonomous role in his artistic output. Based upon assiduous study of the human figure, they are characterized by an unsurpassed mastery of line during all phases of his artistic development. This major loan exhibition was organized by the Albertina Museum, Vienna, in association with the J. Paul Getty Museum, to mark the 150th anniversary of Klimt's birth.
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July 24, 2012 |
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Messerschmidt and Modernity
Daily, July 24 - October 14, 2012
West Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
The Vexed Man, acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum in 2008, is one of a group of astonishing "Character Heads" produced by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783), a renowned German sculptor at the Habsburg court in Vienna. Messerschmidt and Modernity examines not only the study of expression and physiognomy during the eighteenthÐcentury European Enlightenment but also the impact the heads have had on the work of modern and contemporary artists in Austria, Great Britain, and the United States.
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August 28, 2012 |
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The Art of Devotion in the Middle Ages
Daily, August 28, 2012 - February 3, 2013
North Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center
Manuscripts and their illuminations played a central role in fostering and expressing the devotion of Christian faithful during the Middle Ages. As the word of God, biblical phrases were introduced by elaborate initial letters; narrative stories about Christ or the saints were pictured in detailed miniatures; and borders brimming with fantastic scenes focused attention on important texts. Drawn entirely from the Getty Museum's collection, this exhibition looks at manuscripts that not only helped medieval viewers celebrate Christian beliefs but also—with their lavish decoration in precious pigments and gold—served as material testaments to the piety of their owners.
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September 25, 2012 |
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The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker and the Institute of Design
Tuesday September 25, 2012September 25, 2012 - February 24, 2013
West Pavilion, Lower Level, Getty Center
Ray K. Metzker (American, born 1931) is one of the most innovative photographers of the last half-century. Utilizing experimental techniques such as high-contrast printing, multiple exposure, and composite images, he creates photographs that strike a unique balance between formal brilliance, optical innovation, and a deep human regard for the objective world. A graduate of Chicago's Bauhaus-inspired Institute of Design, Metzker studied with renowned photographers Harry Callahan (American, 1912–1999) and Aaron Siskind (American, 1903–1991). An introduction to the climate of intense photographic experimentation fostered by teachers and emulated by students at the school accompanies this overview of Metzker's career. The exhibition, which originated at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City), is supplemented by selections from the Getty Museum's permanent collection and other key loans.
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October 2, 2012 |
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Farewell to Surrealism: The Dyn Circle in Mexico
Daily, October 2, 2012 - February 17, 2013
Research Institute Exhibition Gallery, Getty Center
In the 1940s, an international circle of writers and artists from Europe, Latin America, and North America came together in Mexico City and created the unique journal Dyn. Many of them—including the journal's founder and primary editor, Wolfgang Paalen—had been part of Andre Breton's Parisian surrealist circle in the 1930s, before taking refuge in Mexico during World War II. This group shared a passion for the pre-Columbian past of the Americas, and their immersion in its artifacts transformed their art. Dyn is a record of their ideas and the art they made, an art that had ramifications far beyond Mexico City.
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October 23, 2012 |
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In Focus: Robert Mapplethorpe
Daily, October 23, 2012 - March 24, 2013
West Pavilion, Lower Level, Getty Center
A tastemaker and provocateur, Robert Mapplethorpe (American, 1946–1989) ranks as one of the great photographers of the second half of the twentieth century. His highly stylized explorations of gender, race, and sexuality became hallmarks of the period and exerted a powerful influence on his contemporaries. Arranged chronologically, this one-gallery exhibition will present works—from his early mixed-media objects to his photographic portraits, nudes, and still lifes—that were jointly acquired in 2011 by the Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, New York City.
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Exhibitions |
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May 23, 2012 |
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Molten Color: Glassmaking in Antiquity
Daily
Museum, Floor 2, Getty Villa
In 2003, the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired a collection of over 350 pieces of ancient glass, formerly owned by Erwin Oppenländer. The works on view in Molten Color are remarkable for their high quality, their chronological breadth, and the glassmaking techniques illustrated by their manufacture. The vessels are accompanied by text and videos illustrating ancient glassmaking techniques.
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Roman Ephebe from Naples
Daily
Getty Villa
Youth as a Lamp Bearer, a long-term loan from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, is on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa.
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Aphrodite and the Gods of Love
Daily through July 9, 2012
Museum, Floor 2, Getty Villa
From her genesis among earlier deities in the ancient Near East to her adoption in Roman culture as Venus, this exhibition explores the realms of Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love. It moves beyond the familiar aspects of desire, seduction, feminine beauty, and sexuality to demonstrate the various facets of this complex divinity: civic protectress, helper to sailors, and manipulator of mortals. Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in association with the J. Paul Getty Museum, the exhibition includes objects ranging from large-scale sculpture to delicate jewelry drawn from both museums' collections as well as major loans from Italian institutions.
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The Sanctuaries of Demeter and Persephone at Morgantina
Daily through January 21, 2013
Museum, Floor 1, Getty Villa
A cache of votive offerings excavated from the sanctuaries of the ancient city of Morgantina is on loan from the Museo Archeologico of Aidone, Sicily. These objects, which date from 400 to 200 B.C., were given as gifts by worshippers to Demeter and her daughter Persephone, goddesses of agricultural fertility. Ranging from terracotta figures of the deities to bone hair pins and oil lamps used in nocturnal rituals, the artifacts reveal worship practices and highlight the vibrancy of local craftsmanship. Several works have been conserved by the Getty, such as a bust of Persephone, for which treatment uncovered a painted scene of dancing women on her garment.
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August 10, 2012 |
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Lion Attacking a Horse from the Capitoline Museums, Rome
Daily August 10, 2012 - February 4, 2013
Museum, Floor 1, Getty Villa
Among the most storied works of art to survive from antiquity, the spectacular Lion Attacking a Horse was created in the era of Alexander the Great. A trophy of war in imperial Rome, then a symbol of justice in the medieval city, this image of savage animal combat was admired by Michelangelo and inspired generations of artists. On the Capitoline Hill, its presence heralded the Renaissance spirit, laying the foundation for the worldÕs first public art collection. The extraordinary loan of this recently conserved marble group, presented in a special installation at the Getty Villa, signals a new partnership between the J. Paul Getty Museum and the civic museums of Rome.
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September 12, 2012 |
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The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection
Daily September 12, 2012 - January 7, 2013
Museum, Floor 2, Getty Villa
Pompeii and the other cities destroyed and paradoxically preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 are usually considered the places where we can best and most directly experience the daily lives of ancient Romans. Rather than presenting these sites as windows on the past, this exhibition explores them as a modern obsession. Over the three hundred years since their discovery in the early 1700s, the Vesuvian sites have functioned as shifting mirrors of the present, inspiring foremost artists—from Piranesi, Fragonard, Ingres, and Alma-Tadema to Duchamp, Dalí, Rothko, and Warhol—to engage with contemporary concerns in diverse media. This international loan exhibition is co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art in association with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
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