In LA, eight moments that powered the civil rights movement
Many historic events from the civil rights movement happened in the American South—we’re all familiar with Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and Rosa Parks’s refusal to give up her bus seat, for instance. But the movement was composed of many other acts of resistance, empowerment, and joy—and several happened right here in Los Angeles.
Explore the new Getty Publications book Marching West
The little-known history of a lost Andy Goldsworthy earthwork
Every summer solstice—when the sun is its farthest north above the equator, creating the longest day of the year (this Sunday)—a skylight known as the “oculus” captures the noon light and beams it down onto a circular pane of opaque glass that marks the precise center of the Getty Center’s Research Institute. What many don’t know is that where there is now a glass plate, there was once something else: a site-specific artwork by Andy Goldsworthy, known for his use of natural and ephemeral materials in works often situated directly in the landscape.
What happened to Andy Goldsworthy’s artwork?
“Unrolling” an 18th-century porcelain vase
Arlen Heginbotham, conservator of decorative arts at the Getty Museum, recently wondered how one of our 18th-century Chinese vases would have looked before lavish mounts were added by its new French owners. He asked our digital imaging department to use rollout photography, a technique in which 360-degree scans are taken of a cylindrical object and then cropped and laid next to each other to create a flat, continuous image—as if the item has been “unrolled.” Picture a globe being turned into a map.
Inside the photo shoot that turned a round object flat
NEW PODCAST: OMMM: Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation
This week Getty launched its first video podcast, OMMM: Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation, a podcast focused on creating mindful interactions with artwork from its collection. Hosted by Getty gallery educator Lilit Sadoyan, OMMM is a space for listeners to recover and reflect in a busy world. Released twice weekly, episodes guide listeners in a breathing exercise and meditation, and provide insights about featured artworks.
Learn more and listen to the first episode, which focuses on Getty’s beloved painting Irises by Vincent van Gogh