The Iris

About: Robert Checchi

I'm senior designer at the J. Paul Getty Museum. In addition to Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance, I was the lead designer for two other shows currently on view, The Life of Art at the Getty Center and The Last Days of Pompeii at the Getty Villa. I'm always looking for new ways to educate and engage our visitors. A lot of people ask me what it is I actually do as a designer at a museum. Apart from the design of banners, graphics, display cases, and the object spacing, my job is to create an atmosphere that is comfortable and conducive to learning, to display the artworks at their best, and to visually organize and present the often-complex scholarship of curators. I've been working at the Getty Museum for the past seven years.

Posts by Robert

Posted in Behind the Scenes, Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum, Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Voices

Getty Voices: Looking Closely

By Robert Checchi | Published: March 11, 2013
Using augmented reality on an iPad in The Life of Art at the Getty Museum

As the designer of The Life of Art, my job was to get you to look—really look. More»

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Posted in Architecture and Design, Behind the Scenes, Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum

Church Pews and iPads? Designing “Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance”

By Robert Checchi | Published: January 2, 2013
Installation view of Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance showing pews and iPads
Installation view of Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance showing the design treatment for a gateway object, Giotto's Peruzzi Altarpiece from about 1309–15. (North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, GL.60.17.7). At left, The Virgin Mary with Saints Thomas Aquinas and Paul, about 1330, Bernardo Daddi. The J. Paul Getty Museum. At right, the Carmina regia manuscript, about 1335–40, Pacino di Bonaguida. The British Library

When we first started planning for the design of Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance in the fall of 2011, we faced a major challenge: how to deliver the wealth of information we wanted to convey about the artworks…. More»

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      Remarkably realistic for medieval illuminated beasts, which were often fabulous admixtures of fantasy and fur. The unicorn is clearly drawn from life, for example.


      05/23/13

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