Getty Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, is the current home of the J. Paul Getty Museum as well as a research institute, conservation institute, grant program, and leadership institute. The museum opened on December 16, 1997. It is owned and operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust.
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[edit] Collection
The museum collects and exhibits classical sculpture and art, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture, decorative arts, and photographs. In respect to Getty's collecting intentions, the museum does not generally collect 20th or 21st century art, with the exception of photography.
In 1974, J. Paul Getty opened his second museum in a re-creation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum on his property in Malibu, California. In 1997 the museum moved to its current location in Brentwood, and the Malibu museum, renamed the "Getty Villa", was closed for renovation until recently.
Now, the Getty Villa holds the Greek, Etruscan and Roman sculptures once housed in the Getty Center.
The Getty Center houses such paintings as Irises by Vincent Van Gogh and King of France and Navarre by Hyacinthe Rigaud.
[edit] Title controversies
The Getty is involved in a controversy regarding proper title to some of the artwork in its collection. The Museum's previous curator of antiquities, Marion True, was indicted in Italy in 2005 (along with famed dealer Robert Hecht Jr.) on criminal charges relating to trafficking in stolen antiquities. The primary evidence in the case came from the 1995 raid of a Geneva, Switzerland warehouse which had contained a fortune in stolen artifacts. Italian art dealer Giacomo Medici was eventually arrested in 1997; his operation was thought to be "one of the largest and most sophisticated antiquities networks in the world, responsible for illegally digging up and spiriting away thousands of top-drawer pieces and passing them on to the most elite end of the international art market".[1]
In a letter to the J. Paul Getty Trust on December 18, 2006, True stated that that she is being made to "carry the burden" for practices which were known, approved, and condoned by the Getty's Board of Directors.[2] True is currently under investigation by Greek authorities over the acquisition of a 2,500 year old funerary wreath.
On November 20, 2006, the Director of the museum, Michael Brand, announced that 26 disputed pieces were to be returned to Italy.
[edit] Architecture
The Getty Center, designed by architect Richard Meier, is the $1.2 billion flagship museum of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the largest arts endowment in history (at over $3 billion).[3]It is located on a hill in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California overlooking Interstate 405 and Bel-Air. The museum is free to the public (although there is a city of Los Angeles imposed parking fee). The Getty Center is high enough that on a clear day, it is possible to see the snow at Big Bear as well as the Pacific Ocean and the entire Los Angeles basin.
Richard Meier has exploited the two naturally occurring ridges (which diverge at a 22.5 degree angle) by overlaying two grids along these axes. These grids serve to define the space of the campus while dividing the import of the buildings on it. Along one axis lie the galleries and along the other axis lie the administrative buildings. The primary grid structure is a 30-inch square; most wall and floor elements are 30-inch squares or some derivative thereof.
The buildings at the Getty Center are made from concrete and steel with either travertine or aluminum cladding.
The Getty Center houses four primary art collections: Greek and Roman antiquities, French decorative arts, European paintings before the 1900s and Photography from its inception through present day.
The five galleries, called pavilions, are North, East, South, West and the Changing Exhibit pavilion. The artwork is displayed throughout the pavilions chronologically: the North houses the oldest art while the West houses the newest. The first floor galleries house light-sensitive art, such as illuminated manuscripts, furniture or photography. Computer-controlled skylights on the second floor galleries allow paintings to be displayed in natural light. The second floors are connected by a series of glass enclosed bridges and open terraces, both of which offer views of the surrounding hillsides and central plaza.
Throughout the campus, numerous fountains provide white noise as a background. The initial design has remained intact, however benches and fences have been installed around the plaza fountains to discourage visitors from wading into the pools. Some additional revisions have been made in deference to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The museum has a seven-story deep underground parking garage with over 1,200 parking spaces. And an automated, driver-less, three-car tram takes passengers to and from the museum. This serves to decompress the visitor and create an entirely pedestrian experience for the museum-goer.
The north promontory is anchored by a circular grass area which serves as a heliport in case of emergencies, and the south promontory is anchored by a succulent plant and cactus garden.
[edit] Central Garden
The 134,000-square-foot Central Garden at the Getty Center is the work of artist Robert Irwin. The design of the Central Garden re-establishes the natural ravine between the Museum and the Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities with a tree-lined walkway. The walkway traverses a stream planted on each side with a variety of grasses and gradually descends to a plaza where bougainvillea arbors provide scale. The stream continues through the plaza and ends in a cascade of water over a stone waterfall into a pool in which a maze of azaleas floats. Around the pool is a series of specialty gardens, each with a variety of plant material.
The process of creating the Central Garden began for Irwin in 1992, when he started working with Harold M. Williams and Stephen D. Rountree of the J. Paul Getty Trust in consultation with Richard Meier. Irwin also worked closely with Richard Naranjo, the Getty’s manager of grounds and gardens, and the landscape architecture firm of Spurlock Poirier, in finalizing all facets of the garden.
[edit] Construction schedule
- Spring 1996 Begin grading on the reflecting pool and chadar wall
- Spring 1997 Complete grading for remainder of garden;
- Begin construction of stream
- Summer 1997 Complete construction of stream;
- Install bridges and walkways;
- Begin irrigation and first plantings;
- Complete planting and installation of final details
- December 1997 Garden completed;
- Getty Center opens to the public
[edit] Plants
(Botanical name - Common name)
- Trees:
- Platanus acerifolia - 'Yarwood' London Plane
- Lagerstroemia indica - 'Muskogee' Crape Myrtle
- Stream Garden:
- Helichrysum petiolatum - Cudflower
- Cotyledon orbiculata - no common name
- Kalanchoe - various species
- Tibouchina urvilleana - Princess Flower
- Geranium psilostemon - Cranesbill
- Cannas - no common name
- Terrace Bowers:
- Bougainvillea - no common name
- Meadow:
- Muhlenbergia rigens - Deer Grass
- Festuca mairei - Maire's Fescue
- Terrace Gardens:
- Hydrangea macrophylla - Garden Hydrangea
- Iris species - no common name
- Rosa species - Floribunda roses
- Tulips, South African and Mediterranean Bulbs - no common names
- Tropaeolum malus - Garden Nasturtium
- Erigeron karvinskianus - Fleabane
- Sempervivum tectorum - Hen and Chicks
- Penstemon species - Beard Tongue
- Salvia Species - Sages
- Cosmos species - no common name
- Azalea Pool:
- Three varieties of Southern Indica Rhododendron
[edit] GettyGuide
Detailed information about the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection at the Getty Center is provided on GettyGuide, a suite of interactive multimedia tools available at the Museum, as well as on getty.edu. At the GettyGuide stations in the Museum, visitors can get information about exhibitions, play with an interactive timeline, watch videos on art-making techniques, and more. Also available at the Museum, the GettyGuide audio player features commentary from curators and conservators on over 300 works of art. With GettyGuide on the Web, one may browse the Museum’s collections[1] and bookmark works of art to create a customized tour and printable map[2]. More information about GettyGuide can be found on getty.edu.[3]
- Admission: Free
- Parking: $8.00
- The museum is closed Mondays.
[edit] Additional images
 Cactus Garden perched on the edge of the Getty Center, with West Los Angeles in the background |
 The Getty Center, seen from a hill in Bel-Air |
 A garden at the Getty Center |
 A rest area in the garden |
 A stairway leading down to the Central Garden |
 Stairway at the Getty Center |
 Westwood skyline, as viewed from the Getty Center; Downtown Los Angeles is on the horizon. |
 The fountain at the tram station. |
 A hazy Westwood skyline behind the Getty Center. |
[edit] References
- ^ Men's Vogue, Nov/Dec 2006, Vol. 2, No. 3, pg. 46.
- ^ LATimes.com ~ "Getty lets her take fall, ex-curator says"
- ^ Davis, Mike (March 1992). City of Quartz, First Vintage Books edition, New York: Vintage Books, p. 76. ISBN 0-679-73806-1.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- J. Paul Getty Trust official website
- Architecture of the Getty Center (800 photographs categorized by location and by subject of photograph)
- Google map & aerial photo of Getty Center
- Gardens of the Getty Center (LandLiving.com)
Categories: 1997 establishments | 1997 architecture | Los Angeles area museums | Art museums and galleries in the United States | Photography museums and galleries | Biographical museums in the United States | Museums in California | Museums accredited by AAM | Research institutes in the United States
