The J. Paul Getty Museum and Cabinet des Médailles of the Bibilotheque nationale de France (the department of coins, medals, and antiques of the National Library of France) are collaborating on the research and conservation treatment of the Berthouville Treasure, an extraordinary group of Roman silver objects from Paris. The collection of ancient luxury items will [...]
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Tags: antiquities conservation, Berthouville Treasure, silver
During my work as a Multicultural Undergraduate Intern at the Getty this summer, I was invited to join colleagues from the Getty Research Institute on a visit to artist Thomas Demand’s studio in Culver City. It was a memorable look at his unique process. Demand is a contemporary artist from Germany who works mainly in [...]
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Tags: contemporary art, Getty scholars, photographs, Scholars Program, Thomas Demand, video art
This week, several of my colleagues and I had the pleasure of welcoming to the Getty Villa the Minister of Culture and Tourism for the Hellenic Republic, Pavlos Yeroulanos. The purpose of his visit was to join our President and CEO James Cuno in signing a landmark agreement that creates a long-term partnership between Greece [...]
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In 1949, self-taught photographer Lucien Hervé (1910–2007) traveled from Paris to Marseille to see Unité d’habitation, a housing complex by architect Le Corbusier. Awed by the groundbreaking modern design, Hervé took 650 photographs of it in a single day. When he returned, he mailed them to Le Corbusier. “You have the soul of an architect,” [...]
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Tags: abstract art, architectural photographs, art books, books, Getty Research Institute collection, GRI, Jacques Sbriglio, Le Corbusier, Lucien Hervé, photographs
As Californians, we are well aware of the damage that results from earthquakes, even in new buildings constructed with modern materials. But what happens to historic buildings made of earthen materials such as adobe? These structures can be particularly vulnerable during an earthquake, especially if they lack proper seismic reinforcement and regular maintenance. In the [...]
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Tags: collaborations, conservation science, cultural heritage, earthen architecture, GCI, heritage conservation, Latin America, Peru, seismic mitigation, seismic retrofitting
The two bronze statues at the heart of the current Getty Villa exhibition Apollo from Pompeii: Investigating an Ancient Bronze—set to close September 12—may look rather familiar if you’ve traveled to Pompeii or seen it in pictures. For as you enter the ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Pompeii, you are met by Apollo [...]
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Tags: Apollo from Pompeii, bronze, bronze sculpture, Chiurazzi foundry, Luisa Fucito, Pompeii, Roman art, Roman gardens, video
Those accustomed to thinking of Sam Francis as a major figure in a local art scene will be surprised to find that he was quite the internationalist, even before it became compulsory for Los Angeles artists to be so. A resident of France and Japan for nearly a decade each, and fluent in the languages [...]
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Tags: feminism, feminist art, Mako Idemitsu, Pacific Standard Time, Sam Francis, Treasures from the Vault, video art
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an extraordinary arts institution. That I knew before coming to work at the Getty this week as its president and CEO. What I didn’t know—couldn’t know until I became a full part of this organization—was the full extent of the Getty’s programs and projects, and the remarkable expertise of its [...]
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Tags: Jim Cuno, leadership, mission, Pacific Standard Time
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, knew little about. At first, Harris saw Cuba through his American viewpoint. Due to the [...]
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Tags: Alex Harris, Cuba, documentary photography, Getty Museum collection, Masterpiece of the Week, Question of the Week
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Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–1983) was one of the 20th century’s foremost historians of British architecture. Even today, tourists wander through the historic squares of England aided by Pevsner’s The Buildings of England guidebooks, which remain in print with Yale University Press as the Pevsner Architectural Guides. A new book by Pevsner—Visual Planning and the Picturesque, an [...]
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Tags: art books, books, Nikolaus Pevsner, Townscape, urban planning
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