In the 1920s, Lyonel Feininger was one of Germany’s best-known artists. He painted, drew, and made prints; he sketched caricatures and composed music; he even created a miniature city that would presage stop-motion animation. But in 1928, at age 58,… More»
Artists’ studios aren’t generally thought of as meditative places. The stereotype is one of disarray—an image comes to mind of paintbrushes, sculpting tools, or other instruments of the trade strewn about a room, as if to signal an unruly creative… More»
One of the most influential sculptors active in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, De Wain Valentine is perhaps best known for his striking, semitransparent, and delicately colored large-scale polyester resin sculptures of simple geometric forms that interact intensely… More»
This morning we launched a new website dedicated to Los Angeles art from 1945 to 1980. Here you can get acquainted with Pacific Standard Time, the region-wide collaborative project that will tell the story of the L.A. art scene and… More»
On October 12, novelist Frederic Tuten and actor and writer Steve Martin appeared at the Getty Center as part of the Getty Research Institute’s ongoing series Modern Art in Los Angeles. The evening was a not only a departure from… More»
I popped by the Getty Conservation Institute’s science labs this week to be met with a surprise: a large white Doug Wheeler painting (1964, Untitled, acrylic) alongside the beakers and other scientific equipment. Wheeler is best known for his neon… More»
How do you make a movie about Edward Hopper? The artist—famous for his haunting and enigmatic paintings such as Nighthawks and New York Movie—was conspicuously taciturn, speaking little about his work, giving few interviews, and keeping to a small circle… More»
Many types of plastic used in artworks are now beginning to exhibit serious signs of deterioration – discoloration, crazing and cracking, warping, becoming sticky, and in extreme cases, turning completely to powder. The sheer number of plastics available constitutes a huge challenge for the conservation profession. More»
On April 24, Italian businessman and eminent contemporary art collector Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, whose papers are held at the Getty Research Institute (GRI), passed away at the age of 87 in Milan, Italy. The first European collector of… More»
Medieval methods of entertainment included sad dances and alienation parties.
Tights are not pants, circa 1400something.