The Iris

Getty Museum collection

Posted in Art, Education, Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum, Photographs, Film, and Video

Question of the Week: Do Americans See the World through a Distorted Lens?

By Jennifer S. Li | Published: July 22, 2011
Sol and Cuba, Old Havana, Looking North from Alberto Roja's 1951 Plymouth, Havana, Alex Harris, negative, May 23, 1998; print, December 2007. Chromogenic print, 30 1/8 x 37 3/4 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.90.3. Gift of Michael and Jane Wilson, Wilson Centre for Photography © Alex Harris
Sol and Cuba, Old Havana, Looking North from Alberto Roja's 1951 Plymouth, Havana, Alex Harris, negative, May 23, 1998; print, December 2007. Chromogenic print, 30 1/8 x 37 3/4 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.90.3. Gift of Michael and Jane Wilson, Wilson Centre for Photography © Alex Harris

Initially designating himself an “ignorant American,” photographer Alex Harris went to Cuba in 1998, camera in tow, without preconceived notions. He simply wondered what photography could tell him about this neighboring country that he, along with so many other Americans,… More»

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Posted in Art, Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum, Photographs, Film, and Video

Three Contemporary Photographers on Cuba

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: July 20, 2011
Untitled (Havana), Alexey Titarenko, 2006. Gelatin silver print, 16 3/4 x 16 1/2 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.70.2. © Alexey Titarenko
Untitled (Havana), Alexey Titarenko, 2006. Gelatin silver print, 16 3/4 x 16 1/2 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.70.2. © Alexey Titarenko

What drew them to Cuba? We asked photographers Alex Harris, Virginia Beahan, and Alexey Titarenko, whose work is featured in the exhibition A Revolutionary Project: Cuba from Walker Evans to Now, to talk about what took them to the island,… More»

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Posted in Art, Behind the Scenes, J. Paul Getty Museum, Paintings

Getty Center Closes, Art Takes the Weekend Off!

By Getty Museum Pig | Published: July 16, 2011
Getty Museum Pig

It’s a lot of pressure, day after day, holding the same pose. I’ve been standing up, staring at the underside of a ringing bell for years now. I love hanging out with my pal Saint Anthony, but how can I… More»

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Posted in Art, Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum, Prints and Drawings

The Drawing That Once Hung in Thomas Jefferson’s Parlor

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: July 4, 2011
The Fright of Astyanax (Hector Bidding Farewell to Andromache), Benjamin West, 1797. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.GG.722
The Fright of Astyanax (Hector Bidding Farewell to Andromache), Benjamin West, 1797. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 84.GG.722

An American has slipped his way into exclusive British company—the exhibition Luminous Paper: British Watercolors and Drawings, opening July 19. Owned for years by Thomas Jefferson, admirer of all things classical, this pen-and-ink by Pennsylvania-born artist Benjamin West depicts a… More»

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Posted in Art, Behind the Scenes, J. Paul Getty Museum, Paintings

Connect with Art Using Google Goggles and Our New Mobile Collection Pages!

By Maria L. Gilbert | Published: June 27, 2011
Video crew relaxing after the shoot

What is that painting? Wonder no longer. By taking a photo with the Google Goggles™ app for your smartphone, you can now instantly identify any painting in our collection, plus access related information and audio. Awesome, right? We created a… More»

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Posted in Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum, Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Paris Gamblers: Gaming in 18th-Century France

By Jessica Portner | Published: May 20, 2011
Interior with Card Players, Pierre-Louis Dumesnil, about 1752. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Harry G. Sperling, 1971 (1976.100.8) TMS Creditline Repro: Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY

Players of backgammon, bridge, and bingo might feel a keen camaraderie with the prosperous Parisians of the 1700s whose sumptuous world is brought to life in the current exhibition Paris: Life & Luxury. The well-coiffed elite of the time relished… More»

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Posted in Art, Education, J. Paul Getty Museum, Paintings

Question of the Week: How Have You Been Called to Charity?

By William Zaluski | Published: May 18, 2011
The Vision of Saint Francis of Paola, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, about 1670. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003.144

Have you been called to acts of service? Did you answer the call? Saint Francis of Paola, who lived in the 1400s, was called. Two moments of divine intercession are paired in The Vision of Saint Francis of Paola by… More»

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Posted in Art, Exhibitions and Installations, J. Paul Getty Museum, Prints and Drawings

The Nazarenes: German Artists Illuminating the Spirit of the Age

By Jessica Portner | Published: May 6, 2011
The Coronation of Charlemagne, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1840. Brown ink over graphite on paper. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009.5

In the emerald-green galleries of the exhibition Spirit of an Age: Drawings from the Germanic World, I was drawn to a cluster of quiet drawings that convey beautiful stories: miraculous healings, heroic quests of medieval knights, momentous coronations. These are… More»

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Posted in Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Paintings

Van Gogh’s Irises / Haiku Verses from Readers / An Invitation

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: March 30, 2011
Birthday cake for Vincent van Gogh's birthday decorated with The Irises in icing

To celebrate Vincent van Gogh, who was born on this day in 1853, we’ve been inviting visitors to share their thoughts in haiku form. Please join us! Leave a comment here, tweet your poem with the hastag #arthaiku, or leave… More»

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Posted in Behind the Scenes, J. Paul Getty Museum, Paintings

Audio: Gallery Talk on Turner’s “Modern Rome”

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: March 28, 2011
Modern Rome–Campo Vaccino, Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851), 1839. Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 48 1/4 in. (unframed), 48 1/4 x 60 3/8 x 4 3/8 in. (framed). The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011.6
Modern Rome–Campo Vaccino, Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851), 1839. Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 48 1/4 in. (unframed), 48 1/4 x 60 3/8 x 4 3/8 in. (framed). The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011.6

Emily Beeny of the Museum’s paintings department recently gave a gallery talk for eager Getty staff to acquaint us with the Museum’s new painting by J.M.W. Turner, whose arrival and installation we posted about on Friday. We invite you to… More»

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      dominusvenustas:

      Andrea del Sarto, Various studies, c.1520’s

      Son of a tailor (sarto). Andrea became one of the best loved artists of Florence. Vasari had good things to say about him.

      …Andrea del Sarto, in whose single person Nature and art showed all that painting can achieve by means of drawing, colouring and invention: and indeed if Andrea had possessed a little more boldness and daring of spirit, to match his very profound judgement and talent as a painter, he would, there is no doubt at all, have been without equal. 

      Browning wrote poems about him:

      Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
      Or what’s a heaven for?

      His drawings are natural, graceful and sensitive, an excellent draughtsman.

      …and he was very much in love with his wife… (something we don’t often hear about Renaissance artists!)

      Our curator Julian Brooks is in Florence now researching del Sarto for an exhibition in 2015.


      05/22/13

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