In the 1700s, the seeds of a new style of presenting works of art—both on the wall and on the page—were planted by a German prince. I talked with Louis Marchesano, curator of prints and drawings at the Getty Research… More»
Many researchers are looking forward to delving in to the Robert Mapplethorpe archive we acquired in February. However, there is an important complementary collection of equal interest available right now: the Samuel Wagstaff papers. Wagstaff was a formidable curator and… More»
The Los Angeles City Council will vote Friday to declare July 16th “John Lautner Day.” This Saturday would have been the 100th birthday of John Lautner (1911–1994), who is considered one of the most visionary architects of the 20th century,… More»
Most museum galleries have certain things in common. For one, the works are spaced a restful distance apart from one another on the wall. For another, they’re typically organized by school or theme. The focus might be, say, on fashion… More»
An important archive on postwar art is now available for research at the Getty Research Institute. After several months of writing and archival processing, I’ve just finished my work on the archive of Galerie Schmela. The archive’s 172 boxes and 25 flat file… More»
Berlin, circa 1921: The painter Hans Richter turns his talents to film and produces one of the earliest abstract films, Rhythmus 21. Clocking in at just over three minutes, it’s a significant departure from the newsreels, romances, cliff-hangers, and penny-dreadfuls… More»
The Harald Szeemann Archive and Library, one of the most important private research collections for modern and contemporary art in the world, is coming to the Getty Research Institute—and we couldn’t be more excited. Szeemann was the most influential curator… More»
The third issue of the Getty Research Journal has just been published. Each year, the Journal presents new research on the Getty’s broad holdings and highlights the diverse interests of our staff and scholars. The journal’s goal is to share… More»
The new exhibition Brush & Shutter: Early Photography in China uses photographs, along with a few paintings and other artistic media, to tell a largely unknown story about China. In the second half of the 19th century, when China was… More»
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Getty just announced our joint acquisition of the art and archival material of Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989), one of the great photographers of the second half of the 20th century. Though… More»
Remarkably realistic for medieval illuminated beasts, which were often fabulous admixtures of fantasy and fur. The unicorn is clearly drawn from life, for example.