Event Calendar
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Performances and Films/Videos
Lectures and Conferences
Tours and Talks
Family Activities
Courses and Demonstrations
Exhibitions
Food Events
Free Hours at L.A. Museums (PDF, 269 KB)
Autry National Center
Craft and Folk Art Museum
Fowler Museum at UCLA
Hammer Museum
Huntington Library
Japanese American National Museum
LACMA
Los Angeles Public Library
MAK Center for Art & Architecture
MOCA
Museum of Latin American Art
Natural History Museum
Norton Simon Museum
Orange County Museum of Art
Pacific Asia Museum
Pasadena Museum of California Art
Santa Monica Museum of Art
Skirball Cultural Center
February 28, 2012
Performances and Films
From Start to Finish: The Story of Gray Column
Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 11, 2012
1 pm
Museum Lecture Hall, Getty Center


This 30-minute documentary video recounts the remarkable story behind the making of "Gray Column"—a monumental sculpture cast in polyresin—from its original concept to its display at the Getty. Through interviews with Valentine, his contemporaries, conservators, curators, and scientists, this video illustrates the extraordinary lengths Valentine undertook to create his colossal works.

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Tours and Gallery Talks
Garden Tour
Daily
11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm
Getty Center


The gardens of the Getty are the focus of this 45-minute tour. Meet the docent outside at the bench under the sycamore trees near the front entrance to the Museum.

Focus Tour: Medieval and Renaissance Art
Tuesdays
3 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center


Enjoy a one-hour tour focusing on the Museum's medieval and Renaissance collections by exploring the art and culture of these related and distinctive historic periods. The tour may spotlight the current manuscripts exhibition. Meet the educator at the Museum Information Desk.Meet the educator at the Museum Information Desk.

Getty Center
Architecture Tour
Daily
10:15 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm
Museum Entrance Hall, Getty Center


Discover more about Richard Meier's architecture and the design of the Getty Center site in this 45-minute tour. Meet the docent outside at the bench under the sycamore trees near the front entrance to the Museum.

Halberdier / Pontormo
Collection Highlights Tour
Daily
11 am
Museum Galleries, Getty Center


This one-hour tour provides an overview of major works from the Museum's collection. Meet the educator at the Museum Information Desk.

Famous Faces: Celebrity Portraits
Tuesdays - Fridays through April 6, 2012
1:30 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center


Examine the portrayal of identity, lifestyles, and celebrity culture in paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Meet the educator at the Museum Information Desk.

Masterpiece of the Week Talk
Daily through March 4, 2012
4 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center


What do great collectors covet? In this 15-minte talk, examine an elegant cupboard, which was at the top of Mr. Getty's wishlist. Meet the educator at the Information Desk.

Exhibitions
De Wain Valentine's Gray Column
From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine's Gray Column
Daily through March 11, 2012

West Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center


Gray Column was one of the largest sculptures De Wain Valentine ever cast with polyester resin—the material with which he worked throughout the 1960s and 1970s to create his dazzling circles and columns. This monumental, free-standing slab, measuring twelve feet high and eight feet wide, was abandoned in 1975 and only completed for this exhibition. Curated by the Getty Conservation Institute and on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum, From Start to Finish tells the story of how this extraordinary piece was made and features preparatory drawings and maquettes, videos documenting the fabrication process, interviews with the artist, and a discussion of the conservation of this sculpture. This Getty Center exhibition is part of the region-wide Pacific Standard Time initiative.

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Lyonel Feininger: Photographs
Lyonel Feininger: Photographs, 1928–1939
Daily through March 11, 2012

West Pavilion, Terrace Level, Getty Center


A highly regarded painter, printmaker, and draftsman, Lyonel Feininger (American, 1871–1956) was the first master appointed to the newly established Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, in 1919. Like many other figures at the innovative art school, Feininger turned to photography as a tool for visual exploration. Beginning in 1928 and for the next decade, he used the camera to explore transparency, reflection, night imagery, and the effects of light and shadow. Organized by the Harvard Art Museum/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in cooperation with the J. Paul Getty Museum, this exhibition presents the first comprehensive overview of little-known photographs by one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. The presentation at the Getty is accompanied by a selection of Bauhaus photographs from the Museum's permanent collection. The exhibition, tour, and catalogue were funded in part through the generosity of the German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Dedalus Foundation, Inc., and the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer Jr. Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums.

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Narrative Interventions in Photography
Narrative Interventions in Photography
Daily through March 11, 2012

West Pavilion, Terrace Level, Getty Center


Featuring contemporary artists Eileen Cowin (American, born 1947), Carrie Mae Weems (American, born 1953), and Simryn Gill (Singaporean, born 1959), this exhibition explores the concept of storytelling through three distinct bodies of photographic works. Cowin's images present a philosophical questioning of narrative and what is fact or fiction; Weems's art attempts to rewrite a profound aspect of human history; while photographs by Gill reflect a more personal interaction with stories through deconstructed books. Although each artist has a different approach, all are concerned with photography and the notion of narrative: implied, real, or revised.

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In Focus: Los Angeles
In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945–1980
Daily through May 6, 2012

West Pavilion, Terrace Level, Getty Center


This exhibition presents approximately twenty-five photographs from the Museum's permanent collection made in Los Angeles between 1945 and 1980. Both iconic and relatively unknown works are featured by artists whose careers are defined by their association with the city, who may have lived in Los Angeles for a few brief but influential years, or whose visit inspired them to create memorable images. Works by Robert Cumming, Joe Deal, Judy Fiskin, Anthony Friedkin, Robert Heinecken, Anthony Hernandez, Man Ray, Edmund Teske, William Wegman, Garry Winogrand, Max Yavno and others are loosely grouped around the themes of experimentation, street photography, architectural depictions, and the film and entertainment industries. <br><br> This Getty Center exhibition is part of the region-wide Pacific Standard Time initiative.

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The  Life of Art
The Life of Art: Context, Collecting, and Display
Daily

South Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center


From the time an object is made until the day it enters a museum's collection, it may be displayed, used, and perceived in different ways. The Life of Art takes selected objects from the Getty Museum's galleries and encourages visitors to sit down and spend time with them, offering the opportunity to examine them closely to understand how they were made and functioned, why they were collected, and how they have been displayed. Through careful looking, what may be learned about the maker and previous owners of a French gilt-bronze wall light, for example, or the transformation in England of a Chinese porcelain bowl? Close engagement reveals the full lives of these works and why they continue to be collected and cherished today.

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Gothic Grandeur
Gothic Grandeur: Manuscript Illumination, 1200–1350
Daily through May 13, 2012

North Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center


The word "Gothic" evokes visions of soaring spires, graceful flying buttresses, and sparkling stained glass. The term is also applied to the style of manuscript illumination that reigned in Europe from around 1200 to 1350. The Gothic illuminated manuscripts in this exhibition, drawn from the Getty Museum's collections, are characterized by whimsical marginal decorations, vivid narratives, and a naturalistic style of painting. The period also saw an explosion in the variety of illustrated books being produced, ranging from scholastic university treatises to entertaining romances. On February 27, the pages of the manuscripts will be turned to allow visitors to see additional treasures.

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February 28, 2012
The Getty Villa is closed to the general public on this date.