Author: Getty Media

Getty staff select highlights of Getty multimedia, new and from the archives.

Giovanni di Paolo’s Branchini Altarpiece

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Giovanni di Paolo’s Branchini Altarpiece
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In 1427 Renaissance manuscript illuminator and panel painter Giovanni di Paolo completed one of his most important commissions: an altarpiece for the Branchini family chapel in the church of San Domenico in Siena, Italy. The polyptych was disbanded, likely in the fifteenth century. The Getty exhibition “The Shimmer of Gold: Giovanni di Paolo in Renaissance Siena” unites several panels of the remarkable altarpiece for the first time since its dispersal.

In this episode, we visit the galleries with Yvonne Szafran, senior painting conservator, Davide Gasparotto, senior curator of paintings, and Bryan Keene, assistant curator of manuscripts, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, who discuss what is depicted in the panels as well as di Paolo’s painting techniques. We also learn about the exciting technical analysis being undertaken that may eventually help to identify other missing panels.

Walter Grasskamp on André Malraux

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Walter Grasskamp on André Malraux
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André Malraux, the French novelist, minister of cultural affairs, and art theorist, published his seminal book “Le Musée imaginaire” in the early 1950s. In “The Book on the Floor: André Malraux and the Imaginary Museum,” art historian Walter Grasskamp takes Malraux’s work as a launching point to explore Malraux and his contemporary André Vigneau, the early history of the illustrated art book, and how Malraux’s vision for a “museum without walls” anticipated a new approach to art history that was comparative and global in scope. Thomas Gaehtgens, director of the Getty Research Institute, joins the conversation.

The Making of an Exhibition Part 2

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
The Making of an Exhibition Part 2
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In Fall 2017, the Getty will present Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a regional exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. In a three-part series, we hear about the development of one of the Getty exhibitions that is part of this initiative, a show featuring postwar abstract art from Argentina and Brazil from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection.

In this episode, we talk with Pia Gottschaller, senior research specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute, and Andrew Perchuck, deputy director, and Zanna Gilbert, research specialist, of the Getty Research Institute. We focus on the exhibition title, relationship between concrete art and poetry, and cultural context in which these works were made.

Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles Part 3

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles Part 3
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In a four-part series, we’ll explore architect Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles and how his practice has evolved during his seventy years as an Angeleno.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao are iconic buildings that redefined Gehry’s work. Gehry recounts his memories of designing and building these complex structures and shares how he became associated with the urban phenomenon known as the Bilbao effect.

The Getty Bronze

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Getty Art + Ideas
The Getty Bronze
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In the early 1960s, Italian fisherman found a remarkable bronze sculpture in the depths of the Adriatic Sea. Statue of a Victorious Youth, also referred to as the “Getty Bronze,” is one of the few life-size Greek bronzes to have survived its time, revealing much information about ancient bronze casting. But the bronze also inspires endless questions: Who is the subject? Where did he come from? And where are his feet?

Tim Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum; Charles Ray, Los Angeles-based sculptor; and Anne Wagner, professor emerita of modern and contemporary art at the University of California, Berkeley, come together to explore some of the questions that surround the mystery of the Getty Bronze.

The Making of an Exhibition Part 1

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
The Making of an Exhibition Part 1
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In Fall 2017, the Getty will present Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a regional exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. In a three-part series, we hear about the development of one of the Getty exhibitions that is part of this initiative, a show featuring postwar abstract art from Argentina and Brazil from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection.

In this first conversation, Tom Learner, head of science, and Pia Gottschaller, senior research specialist, at the Getty Conservation Institute, and Andrew Perchuk, deputy director of the Getty Research Institute, talk about the foundational research for this exhibition, which is rooted in both art-historical research and scientific analysis.

Lee Hendrix on “Noir”

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Lee Hendrix on "Noir"
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Technological advances in mid-19th century France saw a proliferation of black drawing media, which gave rise to unprecedented experimentation in drawing and printmaking. This episode explores the Getty exhibition “Noir: The Romance of Black in 19th-century French Drawings and Prints” with curator Lee Hendrix, who discusses how a group of artists drew inspiration from the color black, with all of its imaginative and narrative associations.

Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles Part 2

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles Part 2
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In a four-part series, we’ll explore architect Frank Gehry’s Los Angeles and how his practice has evolved during his seventy years as an Angeleno.

We continue our conversation by delving into hallmark projects from the 1970s and ‘80s, including Gehry’s own provocative home, his first experiments in furniture design, and his work on two LA landmarks, the Hollywood Bowl and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The episode concludes with an account of Gehry’s trip to Japan to accept the Pritzker Prize in 1989.

Cave Temples of Dunhuang

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Cave Temples of Dunhuang
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The Mogao Grottoes are a series of 492 caves carved into a cliff face near the city of Dunhuang, a central stop along the fabled Silk Road in northwestern China. Since 1989, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and the Dunhuang Academy have worked together to preserve and protect these cave temples, which constitute one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art.

Neville Agnew, head of the GCI’s Dunhuang initiative; Lori Wong, principal project specialist at the GCI; Susan Whitfield, director of the International Dunhuang Project and curator of Central Asian manuscripts at the British Library; and Marcia Reed, chief curator at the Getty Research Institute, discuss the creation and preservation of the Dunhuang caves, as well as their historical importance.

Valerie Hansen on the Silk Road and Dunhuang

Getty Art + Ideas
Getty Art + Ideas
Valerie Hansen on the Silk Road and Dunhuang
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Through remarkable archaeological excavations, Valerie Hansen, author of “The Silk Road: A New History,” pieces together the dynamic and complicated history of the Silk Road. Hansen discusses the impact of micro exchanges along these prolific trade routes, the cultural and historical significance of coins, and what she refers to as the “time capsule of Silk Road history,” the Mogao caves at Dunhuang. Hansen is professor of history at Yale University, where she teaches Chinese and world history.