A beautiful bronze Double Head, attributed to the Italian sculptor Francesco Primaticcio, has just joined the Museum’s collection. Though made by an Italian, it was commissioned by a Frenchman: Francis I, the king of France, for his palace at Fontainebleau… More»
The Getty has just acquired photographs by Ed Ruscha. Seventy-four prints, including depictions of gas stations from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City along Route 66, sidewalk views of buildings that were included in his self-published books Some Los Angeles Apartments and… More»
The life of a painting can be pretty unpredictable. Some are constantly on the move, reaching different parts of the world as they travel through time. When I started at the Getty as an intern, I had only recently returned… More»
We use the word “marginal” to dismiss something as unimportant or trivial. But images in the margins of medieval books are so important they get their own name, marginalia, a Latin term that simply means “things in the margins.” Sometimes… More»
Today the Getty Museum announced the acquisition of 69 photographs by famed fashion and celebrity photographer Herb Ritts. The acquisition includes photographs of nudes, celebrity portraits, and images made for high-fashion ad campaigns. A portrait of Richard Gere as a budding… 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»
Writing the gallery label for a painting can sometimes feel like an art form in itself, a kind of circumscribed descriptive poetry not unrelated to haiku. How, in fewer than 100 words, do you capture the essence of an object,… More»
Eighteen months ago we at the Getty Research Institute decided to give our website a complete overhaul. A small group formed and spent the first three months looking through hundreds and hundreds of pages on our site. We talked, and… More»
Medieval methods of entertainment included sad dances and alienation parties.
Tights are not pants, circa 1400something.