The new exhibition The Getty Research Institute: Recent Print Acquisitions features selections from four centuries of printmaking, from a rare suite of woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer to experimental lithographs by Paul Klee.
The prints are full of rich detail, tone, and texture that make you want to spend time with them. And now you can, with these wallpapers featuring details from six prints in the show. Your device is about to get a lot more scholarly.
Visit the exhibition webpage to see the uncropped versions of these images and other works in the show.
Man
This posthumous portrait of artist Edouard Gautier d’Agoty was produced by his student Carlo Lasinio, who falsely claimed that d’Agoty was the inventor of color printing. This example required printing four copperplates, each with a separate color, onto a single sheet of paper.
If this wallpaper could talk: “I’m an artist with a true sense of style.”
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
Woman
Stars sparkle above the Queen of the Night in this captivating vision for the set of Mozart’s sublime opera The Magic Flute created by architect and designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel, best known for his many Greek-revival buildings in Berlin, Germany.
If this wallpaper could talk: “With my backlit display, I truly am queen of the night.”
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
Faith
Albrecht Dürer spent a decade making the 20 woodcuts in The Life of the Virgin series; the set in the Research Institute is one of few original 1511 suites not disbound over the years. Here Mary and Joseph begin the long journey for Egypt under the watchful eyes of angels.
If this wallpaper could talk: “The road is long and rocky, but I will finish my dissertation/exhibition/LinkedIn profile.”
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
Monsters
Ersatz hieroglyphs and menacing winged gargoyle-like creatures adorn a massive structure that is projecting from a mossy cave in this monumental design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel for the opening scene of Mozart’s classic opera The Magic Flute.
If this wallpaper could talk: It wouldn’t.
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
Nature
A German romantic sensibility suffuses this beautiful and rare print of a split oak tree and a woman in Breton dress. The work expresses a devotion to nature and contemplates life and decay. The foliage and clouds in this detail are full of poetic lines and textures.
If this wallpaper could talk: “Beauty lies in the imperfect. This includes my first drafts.”
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
Torment
Prisoners writhe on a platform in this etching from Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s masterful series The Prisons, which is characterized by torqued perspective and a seemingly infinite array of deliberate lines and hasty scratches. The series displays Piranesi’s technical finesse, which stands apart in the history of art.
If this wallpaper could talk: “I’m trapped in my iDevice, but I like it that way.”
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
Fire
Smoke and flame blaze across this luxuriously colored print of an industrial landscape, part of a suite commissioned by a mining coalition. (See another print on the exhibition webpage.) Workers and a draft horse carry on stoically, silhouetted by the orange light of the gutted quarry.
If this wallpaper could talk: “It appears my iPad has caught fire. I may need to leave this meeting early.”
iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048 pixels)
iPad wallpaper (1024 x 1024 pixels)
iPhone retina wallpaper (640 x 960 pixels)
iPhone wallpaper (320 x 480 pixels)
How-to on iPad or iPhone: Find the image size that best matches your device, then press and hold the image to bring up the “Save Image” option. Now go to Settings > Wallpaper and navigate to the image within the Camera Roll or Saved Photos.
How-to on Android (may vary by device): Find the image size that best matches your device, then press and hold the image to bring up the “Save Image” option. Now go to Menu > Wallpaper > Gallery and navigate to the image within your folders.
These images are copyright the J. Paul Getty Trust; they are provided for personal, non-commercial use only.
Why not wallpaper resolutions for other devices, such as conventional desktops and laptops? Or are mobile devices just too dominant?
Hi Kenny! Thanks for the question. iPad and iPhone are slam-dunks to make wallpapers for because they have specific wallpaper sizes, whereas other tablets, Android phones, and desktop monitors vary pretty widely in size/aspect ratio. That said, try the large wallpapers (marked here as iPad retina), which are 2048 x 2048 pixels. That size should work for most monitors.
Wonderful to know there are people taking care of treasures like these prints. Thank you.