The Manuscript Files: An Impish Ape in a Medieval Zoo
One of my favorite acquisitions of the past five years in the Getty’s manuscript collection is the Northumberland Bestiary (Ms. 100), featured currently in... Read More
Getty Museum collection
Masterpiece of the Week: A Cabinet That’s Proudly Over the Top
This is not your run-of-the-aristocratic-mill cupboard. J. Paul Getty, who had a passion for French decorative arts, listed this cabinet—our current Masterpiece of the... Read More
The Manuscript Files: Dancing Your Way to the End of the World
The current exhibition Gothic Grandeur features a number of works illustrating the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible that recounts Saint John’s vision... Read More
Eros, the Naughty Superhero of Love
An introduction to the trouble-making Eros (Cupid).
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The Manuscript Files: Medieval Children’s Games
The current exhibition Gothic Grandeur abounds with images in the margin. These charming and often humorous additions, called marginalia (Latin for “things in the... Read More
Masterpiece of the Week: Andy Warhol’s Polaroid, a Self-Portrait for the Facebook Age
Perhaps a thousand pictures convey a true, multi-faceted identity.
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The Manuscript Files: A Demon Whispering Sweet Nothings
One of my favorite details from the current exhibition Gothic Grandeur comes from a French psalter of the early 1200s. A hallmark of Gothic... Read More
James Ensor 2.0: “Christ’s Entry into Brussels” Becomes Performance Art
The unruly figures in James Ensor’s massive painting Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889 have sneaked off the canvas and into bottles across Los... Read More
The Manuscript Files: A Medieval Holiday Message
On the opening page of the Abbey Bible, the first image we encounter is this roundel containing a scene of the Nativity of Christ.... Read More
All in the Family: Lyonel Feininger, His Sons, and Photography
Many know Lyonel Feininger as an accomplished painter, printmaker, and caricaturist whose work is forever linked to the Bauhaus movement. He was Walter Gropius’s... Read More
The Manuscript Files: A Medieval Marilyn?
The luxuriant locks sported by this medieval figure might seem to say more “Marilyn Monroe” than “Saint John.” Both he and the movie star... Read More
A “French ‘Mona Lisa’” Comes to L.A.: Manet’s “Portrait of Madame Brunet”
The Getty Museum's most recent addition to the paintings collection.
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